Dearly Beloved
by Chiishi
Summary: Yuna, the antisocial social outcast, bumps into the school's hottie, Tidus Coral, and drops her books. When she leaves, Tidus notices a diary. Inside are the details of her past he's never known. Can he help her get over her problems? TxY BxGxR
1. Chapter 1

**((Yes! It's Chiishi, back with writing with her friend Chuti! This is our idea for a new story, and hopefully it will be appreciated among the masses. Hopefully it'll do well, or we'll delete it... Muha. Anyways... first chapter!))**

Chapter 1: Last Goodbyes

_There she lay, her eyes closed forever. Two figures sat near a silk-laden bed, the light coming through the window like a cold_ _rain. A little girl, no older than nine, rushed into the room with blazing tears streaming down her pale cheeks._

_"Mama..." The girl started to shake the woman's body, "Mama... wake up!" The man too had a tear-stained face, as he gripped onto the still hand of his wife. Her pale, bluish lips would not utter anymore soft words of comfort. The man gripped the shoulder of his young daughter, catching her attention._

_"Yuna, sweetheart, she's not going to wake up." He sobbed, and knelt over his wife's cold body, letting go of his daughter. Yuna ran from the room, to her small bedroom. She pulled out a small leather bound book and flopped wearily onto her bed._

Yuna snapped out of her memories, a loud ringing sound filling her head. She shook her head and grabbed her books quickly.

_'These classes need to be longer'_ Yuna shook her golden brown tresses out of her face. She exited the classroom, to avoid the staring, ruthless crowd. She walked quickly down the hall to her locker and put her textbooks away, averting her face from the people behind her. Yuna knew they were staring at her back. She speed-walked down to the bathroom, making sure she didn't bump into anyone. After all, she didn't exactly need any extra attention. She pushed open the big door and walked into the sickly pink girl's washroom. Suddenly, Yuna heard someone walking into the bathroom. Grabbing her wallet from the counter she ran into one of the stalls, she stood quietly in the stall, her ear pressed to the door. What she heard nearly made her sick.

It was Dona, standing near the sink. Donna was one of the prettiest girls in school, not mentioning her amazing popularity in the school of a thousand. She had a group; a "clique" is you like, called the Pink Chocobos. Every day the group would wear something pink, from a hairclip to hot pink socks. But most of all: she **hated** Yuna. And her favorite sport: Yuna Hunting. Every day, Dona would seek out Yuna and pick on her until she started to cry. **That **was why she avoided the popular girl. Yuna picked up her courage and opened the door.

Dona smirked her usual belittling smirk, and cocked her head to the side.

"Well, well, well ladies... it's Loona Yuna. Seems like she can't understand that she's on our turf," she sneered, continuing on, "Oh, wait a minute. Isn't the whole entire school our turf?" The girls behind her snickered and guffawed loudly. When the door swung open, the clique stopped laughing. A head of brilliant head of blonde hair entered the room, her hand poised on her hip.

"Well, Dona. What did I tell you about harming my cousin?" Rikku shook her head disapprovingly, and took her cousin's trembling hand. "Come on, Yuna." Rikku scowled and gently led Yuna out of the bathroom.

"Yuna! What did I tell you? Don't let them push you around..." Rikku swept a blonde lock away from her face. Yuna's bashfully flushed, and she looked away shamefacedly. Rikku's expression changed to a softer one, and she put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Yuna briefly tried to smile.

"I... I know, Rikku. It's just that I get all nervous and skittish when I'm around Dona and her band of arranged sluts and merry whores," Rikku laughed loudly at this, and grinned from ear to ear, "but that's not the issue. It's the simple principle of what they're doing!" Yuna choked, "they make others feel like they're not worth anything!"

A tear ran down Yuna's pale complexion," I... I...I..." Yuna broke down sobbing into Rikku's sweater. Rikku looked slightly taken aback then pulled her distraught cousin into a hug.

"There, there..." Rikku murmured, patting Yuna on her back. After a few minutes Yuna straightened herself, sniffed and wiped tears from her eyes.

"Thanks Rikku... It's all so frustrating..."

Yuna and Rikku were down Rikku's street, chatting, they saw a person barreling down the street towards them. Suddenly, when the man or woman came within 2 meters of the two girls, he/she stopped quickly. With sweat upon his brow, the newly discovered to-be man doubled over, and breathed heavily, trying to catch his breath. When he recovered, he smiled cheekily. He took Yuna's hands in his, and looked into her eyes.

"Yuuuna! E.. E.. E... E muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuja oui!" He paused, the hearts in his eyes growing larger by the second, "E cdemm fecr vun oui du pa so ur-cu-mujanmo pneta!" As you can see, this was Brother, off in his fantasies of incest. Rikku pulled a disgusted face, and responded hotly.

"Dra uhmo drehk oui'mm pa synnoehk femm pa y pmulg uv lraaca ev oui gaab drec ib!" Rikku hollered, not catching the looks they were receiving from the passersby of the street. Brother ignored this, and shifted closer to Yuna, quirking his eyebrows.

"Cu, Yuna, oui ib vun ed? Rir? Rir?" Brother grinned at her, a dazed look coming over him. Rikku looked shocked and scowled.

"Brother... ev oui tu hud crid ib, E'mm gelg oui cu rynt, E'mm pa cinbnecat ev oui lyh ajah payn lremtnah yvdan!" Rikku clenched her fist. Not heeding her warnings, Brother just sniffed. Everything was fine until...

Yuna's face blanched. Her head turned slowly backwards and noticed Brother's hand resting barely on her... let's just say "Assets". WHAP! Rikku punched Brother and he flew backwards several feet.

"Brother! Fryd dra rymm oui tuehk? Dryd'c ehlacd oui celg banjand!" Rikku screamed.

" Ur famm... Yd maycd ed fyc fundr ed!" He grinned at Yuna and flashed a huge thumbs up sign. Yuna squealed and ran quickly up the street. Rikku growled at her brother.

"Yc cuuh yc fa kad rusa... Yc cuuh yc fa kad rusa..." she hissed and ran up the street to catch up with Yuna.

Brother just shrugged, and continued down the street after them, his hands shoved in his pockets.

"Daddy!" Rikku yelled, "We're home!"

Rikku and Yuna stooped to get under the low doorframe, and giggled when Brother cursed as he hit his head. They walked into the kitchen. and were extremely surprised to see Cid in a frilly apron, mixing something.

"Yuna, since it's your birthday soon, what would you like to do?" Cid asked his niece, smiling gently. Yuna sighed, and shrugged, and dipped her finger in the bowl of batter her Uncle was stirring. Chocolate Chip. She smiled, and pecked her Uncle's cheek, and headed upstairs to her cousin's room that the both of them shared. Rikku bounded in after her, and hurled the doors of her closet open, throwing clothes of all different colors, shapes and sizes.

"Yunie, we need to do something about your wardrobe! It stinks!" Rikku said quickly, still messing about in her closet. Yuna looked down on herself, and sighed. Her cousin was right. There was something about the black baggy jeans and navy blue hoodie that just didn't cut it.

"I'll make you a deal, Yunie. If you wear something bright and colorful tomorrow, I'll clean our room and our bathroom for a month." Rikku stifled a giggle, grinning as she saw her cousin's expression go from confused, to scared. Yuna gulped, and ran her fingers through her hair. She looked around their room, and closed her eyes. The room looked like a shoopuf in a steam roller had come through, and then a horde of chocobos had stampeded through, and then someone had dumped all of the stuff they didn't need on the floor. Paper, pop cans and plates and other assorted dishes were everywhere. It was surprised the room didn't smell by now. Their bathroom was a different story altogether. But we won't be going into details about that.

"Fine..." Yuna mumbled, crossing her arms, pretending to be pouting. Rikku laughed, and tackled her cousin, making the air come out of their lungs instantly.

"Yay! Then... then... we need something with a little zing! Pizzazz!" Rikku said, giggling. She got off of Yuna, and skipped over to her closet, where she started to pick out things and then lay them out on her bed. Yuna eventually got up when she was fully recovered, and looked at all the choices. Some were either too flashy, skimpy or even too colorful. When she found something that she liked, she pointed to it, and Rikku nodded. It was a baby blue tee with peasant style sleeves, with a pair of flared yet not too tightly fitting navy blue jeans. Her shoes where black pumped sandals, with the heels about two inches high. With that outfit can an assortment of jewelry, and Rikku even picked out which underclothes to wear. When all was done, Yuna sighed with relief, and went to her bed, flopping down fitfully. She then groaned. Tomorrow, she felt, would be a really bad day.

**((We both hope you all enjoy this! This is Chuti's first story! Anyways, please review! If you all don't like it, it'll go... hopefully you'll all like it a lot. **

**Al Bhed translations:**

**E.. E.. E... E muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuja oui**I.. I.. I.. I loooooooooooove you

**E cdemm fecr vun oui du pa so ur-cu-mujanmo pneta:** I still wish for you to be my oh-so-loverly bride!

**Dra uhmo drehk oui'mm pa synnoehk femm pa y pmulg uv lraaca ev oui gaab drec ib: **The only thing you'll be marrying will be a block of cheese if you keep this up

**Cu, Yuna, oui ib vun ed? Rir? Rir: **So, Yuna, you up for it? Huh? Huh

**Brother... ev oui tu hud crid ib, E'mm gelg oui cu rynt, E'mm pa cinbnecat ev oui lyh ajah payn lremtnah yvdan** Brother... if you do not shut up, I'll kick you so hard, I'll be surprised if you can even bear children after!

**Brother! Fryd dra rymm oui tuehk? Dryd'c ehlacd oui celg banjand: Brother! **What the hell you doing? That's incest you sick pervert!

**Ur famm... Yd maycd ed fyc fundr ed: **Oh well... At least it was worth it!

**Yc cuuh yc fa kad rusa... Yc cuuh yc fa kad rusa...:** As soon as we get home... As soon as we get home...

**Well, find out what everyone thinks of Yuna in the next chapter!**

**Ciao,**

**Chiishi and Chuti)) **


	2. Chapter 2: Yuna's New Look

**((We're back, with more! Hopefully this will quench your thirsts for the most part! Thank you to all loyal reviewers!**

**Disclaimer: We both don't own Squaresoft, FFX or X-2! But one thing is for certain, we both want Tidus!))**

**Chapter 2:** Yuna's New Look

Yuna woke the next day, and groaned. The sun shot in through their blinds, and danced in golden waves on her face. She read the clock. 7:30. She struggled to rise, and suddenly, something hit her. Today... she had to wear something close to colorful. Oh damn. She moaned, and dropped back onto her bed, banging her head on the pillow.

Rikku, who had risen at about 7 am, bounded into the room, clutching the outfit Yuna was going to wear. Yuna growled at her, and took a pillow into her hand. With a half-hearted throw, she hurled it at Rikku.

"Mmmntdfhe sfklnm!" Yuna growled into her blankets, hearing the laughter of her cousin double.

"No, Yuna, I will not leave you alone. We have to go in half an hour! Let's go, you lazy shoopuf!" Rikku pouted, tugging at her cousin's arm pathetically.

Yuna groaned again, got up, and made her way, outfit in hand, to the bathroom.

Just before 8, a lone figure was swimming hazily around the blitz pool at Yuna's school. Blitz practice for him would start in about minutes, and he came just a little earlier than everyone to warm up. The rising sun's waves glinted softly through the clear water, onto his face, making his appearance seem like a young god's.

His blonde hair was drifting about his face, his eyes closed, hiding a pair of handsome sapphirish eyes. He could feel the coolness of the water, waiting patiently for his other teammates to get here. He remembered a year ago, when the previous blitzball captain, Seymour Guado, had been hit by a drunk driver on his way home from the homecoming game. He grimaced, and remembered the sadness of the school. Seymour's old girlfriend, Dona, had now attached herself to him. Yevon, she was annoying. He sighed inwardly, and opened his eyes. He swam over to a goalpost, and floated on his back, seeing his best friend, Wakka, finally enter the pool. He waved at him, and swam towards him, punching his shoulder. They grinned at each other, and Wakka took out his blitzball. They passed a little, and finally, all their teammates piled into the pool. The couch signaled for them to start practice, and Tidus saluted him. As he went over the plays, one thing was on his mind. Dona would never leave him alone, since Seymour was gone. Damn...

Yuna stooped to walk under the doorframe, her books clutched nervously in her folded arms. She tried to ignore the looks that Brother gave her, but it was hard to receive all this attention as an antisocial person like herself. Her heels clicked dully on the concrete path leading from the house, an excited Rikku hanging off her shoulder like a monkey.

"Everything's gonna be fiiine, Yunie! Head high, chest out!" She cheered happily twirling her purse around her wrist. Since they only lived about ten minutes away from their school, their first person to encounter was Gippal, Rikku's rough-and-ready boyfriend. He jogged up to the group, looped his arm around Rikku's waist, and kept walking with them. When he looked over to wave to Brother, he did a double take.

"R-Rikku... Who's this?" He asked absent mindedly, still checking Yuna out. Rikku scowled as she saw her boyfriend trip over various rocks, bushes and sidewalk cracks just to look at her cousin.

"She's my cousin, Yuna!" Rikku growled, pouting at Gippal for not recognizing Yuna. Gippal's eyes went wide, and he stopped checking her out, his eyes straight ahead of him. Rikku felt his head go near hers.

"The anti-social girl, you mean?" Gippal whispered hastily, stealing looks at Yuna. Rikku nodded, and he grinned.

"So, Yuna, I'm Gippal. Pleased to make your acquaintance." He grinned cheekily, extending an arm for her to shake. She looked at him, not sure what his game was. She shook his hand, and smiled briefly.

"Nice to meet you, Gippal." She said quietly, her smile warm and happy. The look in his eyes was genuine; he wanted to be her friend.

"Now that's what I'm talkin' about!" Rikku hollered, pumping a fist into the air. Brother growled at Gippal, and Gippal put his hands up.

"What's the matter with you today, Brother?" Gippal asked defensively, raising his eyebrow.

"Yuna is my woman." He said in quiet, shaky English. Gippal's eyes went wide, and then he went back to looking ahead. Suddenly he burst out laughing.

"Brother, you really gotta stay off drugs! It's doing things to your mind!" He chortled, a grin plastered on his face.

"No, I think that's just the way he's always been, kinda screwed up, you know?" Yuna giggled quietly. It took a minute for the others to register what she had said, but both Rikku and Gippal burst out laughing, with Brother having a complete look of confusion on his face.

"Screwed... up? What is this scerued up?" He asked confusedly, his finger tapping his chin, trying to make him look like he was actually thinking.

"Never mind." Gippal said quietly, seeing all the looks Yuna was receiving. Many were shocked, enraged, and some pleased, from the view of a lot of guys checking out her bust and posterior. Yuna looked down; her face flushed with what she thought was humiliation. She breathed deeply, and put her head high, and walked evenly with everyone else. No one dared to talk to her, except Gippal, who was of course a sweet and daring guy all in one.

"Well, well, well, well girls. Lookit what we have here," An all too familiar voice sneered, with other voices giggling and snorting behind the first voice. Yuna spied Dona and her slutty bad, giggling their heads off. Rikku sighed, and mouthed _'Ignore them.'_ Yuna nodded, and went on, and Dona cackled.

"Hey Rikku, your kind isn't welcome here, Al Bheds suck!" She howled, shouting angry things in their direction. Many Al Bhed in the vicinity looked at Dona threateningly, and she shut up.

"I really don't have time for this today, Dona." Rikku said simply, walking away with her brother, cousin and boyfriend along with her.

Freshly out of the showers, Tidus went to his locker, turning the knob silently. When he heard heeled shoes click slowly towards him, he took a deep breath and turned around, hoping that it wasn't Dona. Instead, it was two Al Bheds, and a pretty Yevonite girl walking his way. He smiled at the Al Bheds and paid little attention to the other girl, and went back to his locker. When Yuna saw him, it took the breath out of her. Did her log-time crush just smile at her? No, that couldn't be, he must have been smiling at Rikku ad Gippal. Disappointed just a tiny bit, she thought of how Tidus had looked when she passed. His hair was still wet from what she guessed was a shower, little beads of water clinging feebly to his hair. His eyes shone with happiness, their color still a clear, ocean blue. She sighed as she pulled her locker open, exchanged this for that for the other thing. She closed her locked, and nodded at Rikku and Gippal, signaling that they'd have to go their separate ways for homeroom. She smiled, and set off; still ignoring the various looks she was receiving.

Tidus was walking his way to homeroom, before he felt a pair of arms encircle his waist. That could only mean one thing: Dona. He sighed and turned, looking down on the brunette's tanned face.

"What is it, Dona?" He asked simply, trying to hide the annoyance in his voice.

"Ohh... nothing... I'll walk you to homeroom!" She said excitedly, taking his hand and pulling him along. With him having no choice in the matter, he followed, knowing that upsetting her would cause a scene with her and an uproar from her little clique. He didn't respect any of the girls that formed that clique; they were literally sluts, just giving their bodies at random to any guy at any party. He w had been at one of Dona's parties, and he remembered seeing each of the ten girls kissing or hanging off of one of many guys, showing that their was a new guy almost every ten minutes, causing the guys they had already been with to fight over the sluttish girl they had both been with.

When they finally reached homeroom, Tidus sighed with relief. Dona misunderstood the sigh, and smirked, tracing a line on his chin with a finger.

"Oh, Tidus! Don't be sad that I'm leaving! I'll see you later!" She kissed his cheek, and skipped away, leaving Tidus by himself. Damn, he needed a new girlfriend!

Little did he know, that in a janitor's closet, was Dona, making out furiously with random guy.

"Dona..." He said quietly, their eyes never breaking contact, "you're so beautiful..." She smiled, and they continued to kiss, but she jerked away when she heard the homeroom bell go.

"That's my queue to leave!" She planted one last kiss and ran out of the closet, running feebly in heels to reach her homeroom. She sneered to herself. Lucky her that Tidus never knew about her open-ness with guys... He'll never know. For that she sort of pitied him. Poor loser. He had it coming.

**((Well, That's it! WOW! 8 reviews! You guys are the best! We both promise to be back with more very soon!**

**Later days,**

**Chuti and Chiishi X3)) **


	3. Chapter 3: The Diary

**((We're back, and ready for action! Chiishi here! BTW, this is Chuti's first fic, and my second. My third is in the stage of writing. Anyways, enjoy, here's the famous bumping into each other scene. Hope y'all enjoy!))**

**Chapter 3: **The Diary

_A couple days later..._

Yuna strode silently into the school, Rikku and Gippal just freshly leaving her hesitant side. Her blush pink summer dress clung to places she never knew existed, the dress ending around her knees. In her hands were a few different books, all in color-coded paper bindings. As she walked towards her homeroom, she saw a certain head of striking blonde hair making its way through the crowd. Her face instantly flushed, and she walked, totally in a panic, forward, her head down, trying to act inconspicuously. As the two neared, a book flew out of the hands of a fighting thug ((Yay, thuggie!)), and landed smack-dab in front of Yuna's foot. Just as our favorite couple were about to pass each other, Yuna's toe came in contact with the book, and she was sent sprawling into Tidus, and she shrieked. No one seemed to notice but Tidus, and he staggered for a moment, and as soon as he realized what had occurred, he knelt down and helped Yuna into a sitting position. He started to help her collect her fallen books, smiling at her downcast face. Never before had he seen such a pretty girl, and he wondered how he hasn't seen her before. Yuna on the other hand, was internally panicking, and her hands were a blur as she collected her books. When she had **assumed** that all of her books were securely in her arms, she murmured a thanks to Tidus, and set off at an alarming pace towards her homeroom. Tidus blinked, and looked down.

There was one book she had forgotten, a small leather-bound book. He picked it up, and stood, looking to see if Yuna was in his line of sight. When he could not see her, he stole a glance at the book. The book appeared very worn, the pages wrinkled in some areas. He flipped open the book, and looked at the first page.

**This diary belongs to Miss Yuna Harper,**

**467 Highwind Gate**

His eyes widened, and he shut the book. He was a good guy, after all. He couldn't just go rooting around in someone else's personal thoughts and experiences... could he? He put the book in his bag, and slung it over his shoulder, making his way to homeroom.

In her usual boring Math class, Yuna sat doodling on a scrap piece of paper, her thoughts in a completely different place. She hardly paid attention to the teacher, he rarely had anything good to say or teach anyways.

"And then we square the root of X and multiply Y by Z and then G- Miss Harper, are you even listening?" Her teacher, Mr. Zev Ronso boomed, making Yuna sit bolt upright and nod vigorously, earning a few smirks and giggles from her fellow classmates. Mr. Zev's eyebrows rose, and he turned back to his extremely boring lecture. Yuna exhaled gratefully, and stared ahead at the blackboard drowsily.

"Can you all please open your textbooks to page 98, class?" Mr. Zev's voice boomed, snapping Yuna from her daze. She sat up, and looked at her pile of books, sifting through for her math book. But suddenly, she gasped. In her hands was indeed her math textbook, but she realized something. Where the bloody hell was her diary? In her head, she imagined a thousand fiery deaths for the book that held her secrets. On top of that, she tried to imagine whose hands it could possibly be in now. She hoped that it wasn't anybody who knew her... as an outcast. She flipped the pages to the correct one, and stared at the images and rows of hazy text, glad to have something that she could focus on without much thought on her missing diary.

She prayed to Yevon for its safe return, and for whoever had it would be honest and nice enough to be sensitive to her past experiences.

She would never be so right in her life ever again.

When he finally got home, Tidus quietly opened the door, hoping to Yevon that his father wasn't home. No such luck for him today.

"Boy! Now that you're home, get me a Yevon-damned beer!" He yelled drunkenly from the living room, his recumbent position showing the obvious state of mind that he was in. Tidus yelled back a 'yes', and propped open the fridge door, grabbing the closest beer in reach from the loaded refrigerator. He tossed it to his far-from-sober father, and ran up the stairs to his room. He closed the door softly, and dropped his book bag on the floor near his paper-weighted desk. He flopped down on his bed on his back, and breathed in the fresh smell that the maid had sprayed in there earlier that afternoon.

It was plain to see that Tidus and his father were rich, from the rarely-used fancy sport cars in the garage to the servants that served their lives there doing whatever their masters pleased. Tidus looked out the window at the large backyard, the grass turning slightly yellow from the oncoming autumn.

All of a sudden, all of Tidus' thoughts shifted to that diary. It called to him, begging for him to read it. He sighed and rolled over to face away from his bag, his thoughts of the diary never leaving his mind. He sat up, hopeless in his attempts to clear his mind. He got up and went to his bag, sighing. He hesitantly pulled open the zipped, and he took out the leather-bound book.

He flopped back down on his bed, and opened the book, flipping to a dog-eared page, observing the correct and neat handwriting.

_Yuna, 9 years old._

_October 22nd_

_Dear Diary,_

_my life is blue. My mom died today. I saw Daddy gripping onto her hand, as though she was still alive. I remember Daddy's sad sobs. I was really scared; I didn't know what was going on. Daddy says that mommy died of heart failure, but I don't think so. I think that Yevon took her from me because I've done something bad, I really don't know what, though. Maybe if I can 'repent for my sins', like Daddy says, and be a good girl, maybe she will come back._

_Now, when I think about it, Mommy isn't coming back._

_Yuna_

Tidus dropped the book, and heard it come in contact with the floor. The poor girl. Tidus' mom wasn't gone; she had left his father, and had took his twin brother, Shuyin with her. Tidus couldn't imagine how horrible it would have been, to lose a parent. He grimaced, and closed the book, not wishing to read any more of this person's life. Maybe tomorrow he would bring himself to read another. _This girl Yuna must have it tough... _he thought to himself sadly, inserting the diary back in his book bag.

Right after he did, he heard a knock on the door.

"Come in."

In came a little boy that looked about six. He had vibrant blonde hair and blue eyes, just like his brother.

"Zidane!" Tidus called happily, making Zidane smile bashfully and run over to Tidus. Zidane was indeed Tidus' little brother, the other child of his parents. Zidane ran and tackled his big brother, and noticed his troubled expression.

"Tidus, what's wrong?" Zidane asked, a tad bit worried. Tidus smiled, and gave his brother a noogie, making Zidane giggle loudly.

"Nothing, little guy, nothing."

**((There you have it! Tidus' side of life, and the first entry of the diary! Hope y'all review, and we'll update soon!**

**Chiishi and Chuti)) **


	4. Chapter 4: The 'New' Girls

**((Here's a new chapter, and it's my longest one yet! I hope you enjoy the chapter, and thanks to all my reviewers for... reviewing!**

**Disclaimer: Even though I wish I owned Final Fantasy, I could never afford it.))**

**Chapter 4:** The 'New' Girls

A new day was upon Spira. The air was crisp, and it seemed there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The dawn's colorful greetings shone in a hue of purple, pink, and orange. The birds sang to their awakening, drowning out the hum of the traffic on the highway. Everything seemed peaceful in Yuna's world, until suddenly, her light was flicked on, burning her eyes from the sudden burst of light. Yuna groaned, and she pulled one of her pillows over her head, trying to extinguish the light that made her hiss in displeasure.

"Rise and shine, Yunie! It's a new day, and you know what that means!" Rikku practically hollered, reaching over Yuna to pull back the curtains and open the window. When the window was open, Rikku sniffed loudly, and exhaled noisily, and ran to their dresser.

"It's so fresh outside! Nothing like a crisp October morning, hey Yunie?" Rikku squealed, grabbing the air freshener, which ironically smelling like 'October Morning Fresh'. She twirled around in large circles, spraying the air freshener, making the room first smell almost exactly like outside, and then taking the scent too far, making Yuna sneeze from under her pillow. Rikku fell down, dizzy from spinning, and crawled very wobbly to Yuna's bed, where she tried to pull back the covers with a shaky hand.

"A-a-anyways Y-yunie, g-guess what?" Rikku stuttered, gradually recovering from her spin. Yuna groaned and shrugged from under her coverlets, not really caring for anything except her lack of sleep. By now Rikku was almost fully recovered, and she crawled back to the door, where she had dropped what she had come in with. In her slightly shaking hands was a exquisite outfit, more different than any others she had worn for the last week and a bit.

It consisted of a black top, the sleeves reached just above her wrists, and it hugged the area where her shoulders met her biceps, a thin string holding the top on. It flared and was drawn in by a thin cord about her waist, making it appear almost a flared version of peasant sleeves. The neck was a low cut 'V' neck, and it hung nicely on her well formed shoulders. Her bottom half was made up of a pair of tight-fitting capris that ended just above her knees, where a extremely fancy set of high-heeled shoes were, which were black leather, with laces that graced their ways up her slender calves. And atop her head sat a Black tilted yet fitted beret. Yuna's face lit up as she saw the outfit, and Rikku beamed with pleasure.

"I felt something about today that was really different from other days... I think something's big is gonna happen to you today, Yuna!" Rikku said confidently, pumping a fist into the air. Yuna giggled, and Rikku lowered her fist, and pouted.

"I really do think this is an important day, Yunie! I want the best for you, I really do!" Rikku whined, her expression symbolizing one of a young puppy wilting his ears from a stern word from its owner. Yuna shrugged, and checked her hair in the mirror.

"Okay, okay Rikku. Let's just get to school first, I can't promise a miracle!"

**'Can all students please come down after homeroom to an assembly for a very important matter. We have a surprise for many of you, and we know lots of you will be genuinely surprised!'**

Tidus groaned as he heard this. It seemed like every morning held a new surprise... Sometimes it was a new addition to the library, which he didn't really care about, or a phone call from his dad saying that he would have to pick up Zidane from preschool after school because his father and a few of his drinking buddies were going off to Zanarkand and a see a game or two of the Abes. As the homeroom bell rang, he gathered up his stuff, and his gaze was fixed upon the Diary. Yevon, he dreaded the day he would need to give the diary back to the girl he knew it belonged to. He couldn't place a face, but he knew she was out there.

He walked out of homeroom with his feet dragging on the polished stone of the floors, and he hauled himself to the assembly hall, were he plunked himself down. The hall itself was gigantic, for it held a lot of students. Brahma High held about 1500 students, and the assembly hall could fit about 1800.

Tidus chuckled as he acknowledged Wakka's presence. Wakka always wore a musky after-shave, but he rarely shaved. This made Tidus roll his eyes in bemusement. It hardly made any sense to him of why Wakka would wear after shave with no shave. He heard Wakka sigh as he flopped onto a chair that was next to Tidus'. When all the students were seated, the lights dimmed and a spotlight was drawn to the podium, which sat on a light wood-planked floor, which was positioned in the middle of the cinema-style semi-circle auditorium. The headmistress cleared her throat and stepped up to the microphone, where she straightened her already-creased business suit.

"Good morning, all!" she said cheerfully, earning a couple of groans to arise from the crowd.

"We are here to honor the presence of two young ladies. One is a valedictorian of her class, and she has transferred here to continue her studies. The other is a college student, who has been employed as the assistant librarian. Please welcome...

"Miss Lulu and Paine Hawken!"

A lot of students' mouths were gaping, and Yuna sat forward in her seat, her mouth a small 'o'. Both the Hawken girls stepped foreword, their expressions distant. Paine looked exactly as you would expect her to be, except in this dimension, her face was more lined, her blood-colored eyes clouded and dull. Paine had once been a girl who smiled and laughed, but her past, like Yuna's, was not so pleasant. Lulu was still the same, with her beautiful black hair down straight.

From where Tidus was sitting, he couldn't see the girls that well. But when he looked to Wakka, he noticed something strange about his friend. He was on the edge of his seat, his mouth shut tightly with his eyes wide. Tidus shrugged and looked away, and waited patiently for the assembly to end.

As everyone piled out of the auditorium, Tidus eyed someone. It was a girl in stylish garb, her hair in a playfully cut bob. We would recognize her as Yuna, but being the dolt that Tidus was, he had never really noticed her before. He gulped, and felt a jab of nervousness in his chest, which surprised him. He had never really found himself being nervous on the subject of women...

He walked and weaved through the crowd towards her, the nervousness still making his heart pound painfully. When he reached her, she looked towards him shyly, and blushed.

"Hey.." he said quickly, jogging to keep up with her. She nodded and kept going, trying still to lose him.

"I-I'm Tidus!" He said quickly, as he was almost knocked over by a freshman.

"I know.." She said back quietly, slipping into her first class, which they shared. She went and sat where she and Rikku usually sat. Tidus went and sat in his seat, and internally scowled as Dona came over to him, her smile obviously cheesily fake.

"Tidie widie!" she squealed, sitting next to him. He nodded at her, and sat down, his eyes on Yuna.

_Who is she?_

In his free period, he walked over to the library, and went into a corner, with Wakka on his heels. Little did he know that in the Librarian's office, Paine, Rikku, Lulu and Yuna sat talking in their free periods. Anyways, back to him. His curiosity was really getting the better of him, and he dug into his bag, and withdrew the Diary. He flipped through the pages, and settled on a dog-eared page.

_Yuna, age 11_

_January the 13th in the 239th year of New Yevon's reign._

_Dear Diary,_

_I think my life has come to an end. Dad left today. He didn't even say goodbye. I called Uncle Cid and he said that my dad needed some time to himself. Uncle told me that he'd let me stay with him, Rikku and Brother. It seems that everyone I hold dear leaves me- Oh! There's the doorbell. I'll write later._

Tidus blinked, and sighed. How tragic. He flipped the pages to another dog-eared entry, and he gulped, his eyes scanning the pages.

_Yuna, age 13_

_October the 21st, in the 241th year of New Yevon's reign._

_Dear Diary,_

_So, here I am. I've spent about two years at Uncle Cid's place. But, a new kid came today. His name is Tidus Coral. Honestly, he's one of the cutest boys I've ever seen. He doesn't seem to notice me, though... Who would, anyways? I'm so ugly... Dona seems to think so. At least I have Rikku and Paine. I think Brother has a thing for me. That's gross. I'll write tomorrow._

Tidus felt himself blush as he read her writing. She thought he was cute? He shook his head, clearing his head. So this 'Yuna' is a friend of the new girl Paine...

Meanwhile, in the Librarian's office, the four girls sat, watching Yuna put together her sign for her 'missing' diary.

"Looks good, Yuna!" Lulu said happily stretching out on an arm chair. Paine nodded, and smiled softly as a thought hit her.

"Yuna... when you're finished, I could copy those in the art room, and you could distribute them around the school." She crossed her arms, and awaited Yuna's answer.

Yuna was beaming, and she nodded her vigorously, and got up, giving Paine a hug.

"Thanks, Paine."

"Anything for you, Yuna."

Yuna fell silent as she remembered why Paine would ever say that. Paine owed her, and what Yuna had done for her was more than a friend could ever do. She rescued her and got her out of Luca. She remembered what pain Paine had encountered, and shivered. She hoped with all her heart that something that unfortunate would never happen to her. But, she knew in her heart that she never knew what the future held.

"Paine... have you recovered from the initial shock?" Rikku said quietly, her eyes downcast.

"No, I'll never recover... not from that."

"I'm gonna kick Barthello's ass for r-" Lulu growled, but was cut off by the librarian.

"Lulu, I'd suggest you get your butt out and scan those books for the students out there, or we'll have a pile up of students with unscanned books, hmm?" She said irritably, her expression is an almost-scowl. Lulu flushed, and nodded, running out.

The rest of them sighed, and talked over the signs.

Wakka flipped through his book, and nodded. He stood, and walked over to the checkout desk, his eyes downcast. He grabbed his wallet and pulled out his card, and pushed the card and the book over to the scanner.

"Wakka..." a soft voice whispered, making his head whip up. There was Lulu, in all the beauty he remembered her by.

"Lu... how've you been?" Wakka said tenderly, remembering what happened to her sister.

"I've been better... How are you?" She said awkwardly, a blush creping to her cheeks.

"Awww, this is so sweet..." A voice said from the doorway of the librarian's office, making their heads spin to the door. There was Rikku, a cheesy yet sheepish smile on her face. When she saw them notice her, she tucked back into the office, and started to giggle uncontrollably. Wakka sighed, and looked back to Lulu.

"I'm feelin' good. So, Lu... maybe a movie tonight?" He said nervously, scratching the back of his neck. Lulu nodded happily, and smiled.

"Yeah, that's be good. Pick me up at 8." She said excitedly, her smile bashful. A couple of 'awww's arose from the office, and Lulu turned and hissed, causing the office to erupt in hysterical laughter. Lulu rolled her eyes, and knelt over the desk, and kissed his cheek. He blushed, and waved goodbye. When he went through the doors of the library, however, the alarm went off, signaling that he 'stole' a book. He blushed an even deeper shade of red, and went back to checkout his book.

As Tidus got in the door, he froze. Sounds of a small child filled the hallway, and Tidus ran towards the sobbing as he heard yelling.

"You fucking ingrate! How dare you play with your stupid blitzball near my best blitz trophies. I'll show you!" He heard his father shout, and he finally found them, in the kitchen. There, on the floor, was a broken looking Zidane, curled up in a ball, sobbing his cute little heart out. He saw his father kick his brother in the stomach, and laugh in his rage. Tidus stood there, watching his father drag his brother up by the collar of his shirt, feeling horrified. As his dad was about to aim a punch at him, he thought it best to intervene.

"That's enough!" He said feebly, running up to his father and delivering a hard punch to his father's stomach. His father spun and dropped like a bowling pin being knocked down by a bowling ball. Zidane, being catlike, landed perfectly on his feet as his father released him. Zidane rushed over to his brother.

"You okay, Zidane?"

"Yesh, but my mouth hurts, Tidus."

"Open up, little guy."

Zidane did, and Tidus saw inside his mouth, two gaping spaces where two tiny baby teeth should have been. Tidus sighed, and picked up his brother. He shoved a hand into his pocket, and drew out a twenty-dollar bill, and let it drift down onto his dad's back.

"Dad, you better be gone by the time I make Zidane's dinner. Go get laid or whatever you do at bar. You better be scarce soon, you hear?" He growled, glaring at his father's form. The man groaned, and Tidus took this as a yes. Tidus carried Zidane upstairs into his room and let the little boy crawl under the covers.

"Just have a nap until dinner, okay, Ziggy?" Tidus said softly, putting his bag down and walking over to his stereo. The radio switched on to one of his favorite songs, and he silently cheered. It was Bring Me to Life, by Evanescence. He smiled as he sung softly to Paul McCoy's part, his chest in a painful knot.

(His lyrics in plain bold, Amy's in brackets)

**Wake me up  
(Wake me up inside)  
I can't wake up  
(Wake me up inside)  
Save me  
(call my name and save me from the dark)  
Wake me up  
(bid my blood to run)  
I can't wake up  
(before I come undone)  
Save me  
(save me from the nothing I've become)**

Soon after the song ended, and he chuckled as he heard Zidane snore softly. He took this as a clue, and walked calmly to his book bag and pulled out the Diary. He flipped to a largely dog-eared page, and read the words under his breath, and he felt a vice-like hand grip his chest.

_Yuna, age 14_

_April the 3rd in the 243rd year of New Yevon's reign._

_Dear Diary,_

_Oh my Yevon, I'm so horrified! Paine wasn't at school today, and I just found out why. She's been raped! By that creep Barthello! It seems like all Dona and her bastardly boyfriend want to do is ruin the lives of me and my friends! Right now I'm in the critical condition ward in the Luca hospital, writing this and sometimes looking up to see if her unconscious form will move, through the ward's observation window. Wait! What's Tidus Coral doing here? Maybe... if I can just slide my diary up on my face... maybe he won't notice me... I hope Paine's happy and cheery demeanor won't fade..._

Tidus gulped, and slowly closed the book. _Dona! How could she do this to an innocent girl! _

_Wait.. that's probably why that girl Paine looks so cold..._

Then, the memory hit him. He was there in the district hospital to pick up his father. The reason why his father was here actually was the reason why his parents divorced.

It all started when his father casually asked his brother-in-law to go out for a drink. One ounce of alcohol led to another, and eventually his father was so drunk he became mad. When his brother-in-law, Tidus' mother's brother, suggested a camping trip, Jecht got so unexplainably mad that he started to beat on the unaware man. His brother-in-law didn't hit back, and got out of there barely alive, and was left in a body-cast and was in a coma for about a week. Alura, Tidus' mother, was furious, and when she heard that Jecht too was in the hospital, she raged there and filed divorce on the spot.

But there was a loophole in the custody papers. It unclearly said that the children of the parents had their own choice in the matter of who they wanted to live with. The unclear part was that it said hazily that the children could not have a normal visiting schedule between parents. It was either one, or the other.

Shuyin, of course, picked his mother's side. Zidane, who was only three, took his father's side. Tidus was torn. As he thought it over, he concluded that the best way was to go with Zidane, to protect him and keep him company. Phone calls were regular, and everything in Tidus' life seemed to go back to normal.

Except now. Now he had a crisis with his father.

He picked up his phone, and dialed his mother's number. Alura and Shuyin had moved to Zanarkand, where Tidus, Jecht and Zidane had all stayed in Luca. Shuyin was a blitz player, just like Tidus, and played for the Abes. Tidus' emotions perked up immediately when he heard his brother's voice go on the line.

_'Hello?'_

"Hey Shuyin."

_'Hey bra! What's up?'_

"Nothing much... but... something happened."

_'Whoa. What happened?'_

"Dad got all mad at Zidane this afternoon when Ziggy played with his Blitzball near Dad's has-been Blitz trophies and started beating him.."

_'Yevon._ _Is he okay?'_

"He's fine, I have him here. He's havin' a nap."

_'Cool._ _Anyways, you want to talk to Mom?'_

"Yeah. Say hello to your girl Lenne for me, will ya?"

_'Will do. Seeya, I'll get mom.'_

The sounds of shuffling feet and yelling could be heard across the line. Almost immediately, a female voice came on the line.

_'Hello?'_

"Hey Mom."

_'Tidus! How's my boy?'_

"I'm good, Mom. Listen... Dad beat Zidane today... for playing near his trophies."

There was silence on the other line, until the sounds of muffled crying could be heard.

"Mom?" He said softly, hearing the sobs echo through the phone.

_'I'm fine.. Listen, Shu and I are going to come to Luca and see you boys. We'll be there in a week, okay, honey?'_

"Sounds good. Listen, I have to make Zidane's dinner soon, so I'm give him a hug for you, and I'll see you next week at the airport."

_'Alright, sweetie. Take care."_

"Love you Mom.."

_"I love you too. Bye.'_

"Bye."

He hung up, and took a deep breath, thanking heaven that his mother and brother were coming. He heard Zidane wake up, and he walked over to his brother, and hugged him.

"That was from Mom." He said quietly, smiling happily at his brother. Zidane grinned, and punched Tidus' arm softly.

"Mom was on the phone?"

"Yeah, when you were asleep. Anyways, they're coming to visit in a week."

"Yay!" He squealed, hugging his brother. Tidus playfully rolled his eyes and gave his brother a noogie, and let him go.

"How about dinner, you can help cook. What do you want for dinner?"

"Hot dogs and chocolate milk with chocolate ice-cream!"

Tidus laughed, and went and opened the door. Silence could be heard from downstairs, and Tidus sighed in relief, turning back to his brother.

"Good choice! Let's go!"

Zidane immediately jumped off the bed and bolted down the stairs, opening the fridge door. Tidus chuckled as he descended the stairs, and looked down to his phone as he heard it ring the Zanarkand Theme, and he flipped open his phone.

'_Date waz good'_

Tidus laughed aloud as he read Wakka's message, and too out a pot for the hotdogs. He internally wished that he had something like Wakka and Lulu, and sighed.

Little did he know that his life would be changed by that one diary...

And Yuna.

**((That's it! You know what, if there's any artists out there, could any one draw any fan art for DB? I'd add it to the latest fan fiction chapter, where everyone can enjoy it! Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it, and I'll write with another chapter soon.**

**Ciao,**

**Chiishi)) **


	5. Chapter 5: Dona's Secret

**((Well, I'm back! Sorry for not updating, for about a month! School is upon me, and I'm focusing, so the only real time I have id in the mornings, before I leave... but I've got a chapter up. Plus, I've written a song compatible to '1000 words', sung by both Koda Kumi and Jade, but it's '1000 No Kotoba' for Koda Kumi! Tee-hee! Here's my song, it's about my latest chapter on NUTE-A, and what had happened to most of the chapter.**

**'Cuz 2000 words, went down the toilet, I had to write them again, even now the chapter's up, I know you're reading them, suspended by Silver Wings! Do do do do do!' **

**-ahem- I'm done.**

**Disclaimer: **

**Chiishi- I do not own- **

**Tidus- -ahem- You wouldn't by chance know where Nikki is, do you?**

**Chiishi- Tidus! -hugs- Good to see you. She's around here somewhere, writing or lurking her head off. Why?**

**Tidus- Oh, nothing. Just gonna give her your gift.**

**Chiishi- Oh, okay. Hey! She's over there! -Tidus runs off-**

**Tidus- -takes Nikki's hands- Congrats on... -gives her a kiss- 65000 words! From Chiishi! -hugs-**

**Nikki- -faints-**

**Chiishi- Well, there goes Nikki... -turns to her readers. Oh, you're still here? Well, I had better continue. I do not own any of Square Enix, meaning I don't own Tidus. -sniffle-))**

**Chapter 5-**Dona's Secret

"Today, Yuna's going down." Dona said assuringly to her mirror, applying a layer of lip-stick to her already saturated lips. She finished, and put the cap on the lipstick, and put in her little pink bag that she always carried around with her. She walked out her bathroom, which she shared with her half-sister, and huffed into her room.

She stopped short, and walked over to her calendar. She slipped it to the next month, and let it go, dumb-founded.

"No..." she said quietly, and sat down on her bed. "It can't be..." She felt the tears come to her eyes, and she shook her head, refusing to let this get to her. When she had finished reassuring herself, she put her hands and her sides, and thought deeply to herself, which was a rare occurrence indeed. She grabbed her cell phone, and hurriedly dialed Leblanc's number.

_"Heddo?"_

"Leblanc, wake up. There's something wrong with me."

_"Whad, Dona? I wand to go back to sleeb."_

"Well, that is just too bad, isn't it?" She snapped, and she heard Leblanc yawn on the other line.

_"Whadever. Whad do you wand?"_

"You know how... you know with the months... and when it doesn't come..."

_"Oh my god, Dona, you're saying thad you're..."_

"Yes!" At this point Dona was hyperventilating, and the tears were coming down her cheeks.

"_Who's is id, Dona, love?"_ Leblanc said compassionately, and Dona suddenly stopped, and became unearthly quiet. Who's was it? She snickered to herself, her sad behavior from a moment before vanishing. Of course she knew whose it was. The other of her 'men' hadn't ever been with her. Maybe she could use it as blackmail later on.

"I don't know!" She pretended to wail, and Leblanc sighed on the other side, and reassured her. When Leblanc finally hung up, Dona lay back on her bed, and flopped onto her back, and laughed as hard as she could. The door opened, and in stepped Dona's half-sister, Isabelle, with a sneer on her face.

"So I see that the insanity has finally taken you, huh?" Isabelle chortled, and walked to Dona's closet. She saw that Dona wasn't looking, so she stole a shirt. She inched out, and Dona opened one eye.

"Put it back, bitch." She said firmly, rising from her laying position. Isabelle stuck out her tongue, and threw it to the top of the closet, and stalked out, muttering curses that would turn a shoopuf pink.

"Today, I will get some payback."

Yuna came in from the bathroom, and stood in awe as she saw Rikku at the kitchen table. The girls had gone to separate places for school supplies, so Yuna had no idea of what Rikku had bought. Rikku giggled when she saw her cousin's face, and hopped about excitedly.

"Do you like it?"

On the table, there was a messenger bag, a couple of packs of pencils, five erasers, lined paper, and a notebook, with what looked like it had about three subjects in. But one thing stood out, they were all yellow, and had little chocobo pictures on them! Yuna started to giggle, and after a while of staring at the school stuff, she wanted really bad to yell, "Kweh!".

Yuna had gone more simple, but had envied her cousin for going on a chocobo craze. She had bought a couple of pastel colored notebooks, including a pink, blue, and yellow one. Her pencils were normal mechanical ones, and she had bought some good-quality drawing paper, just so she could draw a little, for she loved to draw.

"To school!" Rikku cheering, pumping a fist into the air. Yuna nodded, and giggled, and they walked out the door, with Rikku gushing about her chocobo stuff.

"I just don't know how it happened!" a muffled cry echoed down the hallway, making Yuna's head turn. At her sides were Paine and Rikku, Lulu off with Wakka somewhere. There was a large group of pink-clad girls, and in the middle of them, stood a purple-clothed Dona, who was sobbing into a cashmere sweater of one of her goons. Every girl in the pack were either 'aww'ing or patting her back, and Dona cried on.

"It's okay, love..." Leblanc said sympathetically, her look hesitant. Yuna looked questioningly at Paine, and she shrugged. Paine nodded, a smirk coming to her lips, and she felt Rikku lean in to her.

"She just probably broke a nail or something, ya know?" Rikku said casually, curling a lock of hair about her finger. Yuna giggled, and nodded, and walked down the hall. As soon as she had left, Dona looked up, and saw Yuna walking away. Her crocodile tears had stopped by now, and she glared at Yuna's soon-to-be disappearing back.

"Erg! I hate that Yuna! She thinks she's so mighty, with her new friend around..." Dona muttered furiously, and a couple of girls agreed, nodding.. But a couple of girls just stood in silence. Dona noticed this off the bat, and looked at them doubtingly.

"Why so quiet, girls?" Dona asked furtively, an eyebrow arched. One girl in a puffy angora sweater was pushed forward, and she looked at her leader, and gulped.

"Well, speak up already!" Dona hissed, making the girl look down nervously.

"She-she said that if you went after Yuna, Miss Dona, and then she would have 'hurt-time' come down upon you..." The girl quivered, and then shivered.

"Who? And what is 'hurt-time'?" Dona asked, slightly confused. Another girl stepped forward, and cleared her throat.

"It's the new girl Paine... and hurt-time is..." she stuttered, and she dragged her finger across her neck. All of the girls froze, and stepped back in terror. They had every reason to be terrified, too. Paine was indeed strong, but she was one of those quiet, athletic, generally misunderstood types of girls, kinda like Sakaki-san from Azumanga Daioh. (A/N: I'm an anime freak, but you should check out that show!) Paine did seem muscular, tough, and generally over-intimidating, but like almost every tough person out there, was a soft person, who was sensitive.

All those girls thought right now was how much hurt-time would not be nice.

Ya think!

At lunch, RP walked casually through the cafeteria, grabbed their lunches from the moled-lunchlady (The daily special was ramen), and were about to sit at their usual table, but were blocked with a barrage of pink-clad girls, shrieking to get their lunches. At the back of the lunch room, YRP could see Tidus comforting Dona, and YuRiPa guessed it was about the broken-nail incident again. Dona was literally draping herself over him, and he was disgusted. The faucets of Dona's 'tear' wells had been turned on on full blast, and Tidus was trying his best not to show his disgust and keep a straight face. They, meaning the fab three, could fortunately hear what Dona was crying over.

"-and then, Daddy said he'd take my cars away if I didn't get a job! Isn't that horrible?" Dona squealed, her fists balled by her face. Tidus sweat-dropped, and nodded, trying to convince her that he cared, when he really didn't. Dona nodded, her 'tears' rounding on little balls on her eyelashes. Tidus wouldn't found this slightly attractive on a slightly more realistically crying girl, but this was Dona. Nothing on her was real. Not even her pointed nose. All fake. Blah. Tidus looked away, and saw the girl he tried to talk to after the grade assembly. He didn't know her name, but he knew that he really liked her. Their eyes locked, and they blushed, both simultaneously looking away.

"Tidus?" A strangled cry shot out, making his head snap back to Dona.

"Tidus! I hope you weren't looking at that good for nothing Yuna Harper!" Dona screeched, and Tidus' head whirled to Yuna again.

_The Yuna Harper?_

Yuna was in the same spot where he had seen her last, for Dona's gang had taken their place in line, and Paine looked ready enough to kick some ass. So that girl... was the girl that he was reading about... in something as personal as her diary? He gulped, and waved to Dona, and left, running over to where Wakka sat, with his reinstated girlfriend, Lulu. Leblanc sauntered over quietly, and rested a hand on Leblanc's shoulder.

"Erg! That Tidus!" Dona mumbled angrily, and walked with Leblanc slowly to their table.

"So, love, what's on the agenda today?" Leblanc said happily, her eyes glinting.

"Maybe shopping would be good... but Yuna Harper! She makes me want to... Whoa!" _-SPLASH_- A crash ensued, and Dona ended up on the floor, a cup of ramen on her head. The noodles ran limply down her hair and face, and she scowled, and looked up at the person she was tripped by. There stood a dumb-founded Yuna, her tray now empty. She had a look of undying sympathy on her face, and she was as froze as a statue. All of the student body laughed, and a lot of the guys were pounding their fists on their tables, their enjoyment of the matter obvious.

"Why you little-" Dona snarled, getting up, and pointing a soup-covered finger in Yuna's face.

"Excuse me.." a small, hard voice sounded from Yuna's right. Dona had her turn to freeze, and her eyes crept up to Paine's face, Paine's expression hard and malevolent.

"Can you please move? Or do you have a problem with a simple accident?" Paine said softly, her eyes never leaving Dona's face. The cafeteria had gone quiet, and Dona gulped. Thoughts flashed in Dona's mind, many like, _WARNING, WARNING, INCOMING HURT-TIME, and AT TEN O'CLOCK! I'm gonna get it now... Maybe I should move..._ She nodded, and stepped aside.

"Thank you, come again!" Rikku said enthusiastically, winking and saluting to Dona. Dona could feel her hackles raise, but she kept quiet, solely from her fear of Paine.

In spare, the girls had gathered in the library again. Lulu had called them there, and whenever Lulu would request your presence, you would know that something was up. They all sat in a circle of big, puffy green reading chairs, and they shrunk into them, their fatigue of the day getting to them. Lulu walked into the library, and spotted her friends, and gave a whole-hearted smile to them all.

"Good afternoon girlies." She said casually, plunking herself in a chair, and rubbing her eyes. Since she was new to her job, the librarian gave her extra long hours, which consisted of training for her post.

"So, why'dja call us here, Lu?" Rikku said happily, her fingernails clicking as she tapped her fingers on the wooden armrests of the chairs. Lulu looked up, and nodded.

"I know why Dona's been so sad recently." she said simply, her eyes downcast.

"Go on..." Yuna said encouragingly, her interest in the matter sky-rocketing.

"Well, I know it's wrong to eavesdrop, but when I was filing books after lunch, I overhead some of Dona's goons talking in their Study Hall period, looking at magazines at a table. They were twittering on about how their leader's life was going to change pretty soon, so I got interested. It turns out that Dona's gone and skipped a monthly, and now.."

"My Yevon." Paine said, surprised. All four girls looked at each other, and Lulu continued on.

"And they say that now..." She stopped again, and YRP answered, concurrently:

"She's pregnant."

"But who's the father behind this?" Paine asked, indifference leaking into her veins.

"The girls say that it's either Barthello-" Paine paled at this,"-Or it's Tidus Coral. But something tells me it's not Tidus. He's a great guy, and he and Dona have never seemed that close, and the goons said that Dona was planning something against Tidus if he had any plans of 'leaving' her, so... it must be Barthello." Lulu said thoughtfully, her beautiful head cocked to one side, her brain deep in thought.

Paine scoffed, and a small smile went to her lips.

"What a whore."

**((Well, that's it! If anyone wants to be in the disclaimer, and be introduced with a main character, please speak up! Anyways, the fifth chapter is done, and I hope you all enjoyed it!**

**Ciao,**

**Chiishi**

**(P.S: I will repeat: Anyone who wants to draw fan art, email me or put it in your reviews! We'd love Dearly Beloved fan art!))) **


	6. Chapter 6: New friends are made

**((Welcome back! Sorry it's a short chapter... I'm running into a bit of a writer's block. Sorry again!**

**Disclaimer- I do not own.. any.. I mean ANY OF SquareEnix's stuffs.**

**Yuna- On with the story already!**

**Meh- Sorry!))**

**Chapter 6:** New Friends are Made

As the bell rang, a few students piled in, the rest moderately late. Yuna sat down, and pulled out her science book, and she sighed as she slumped in her seat. Her head reeled about her diary. It had most of her life encased in it! She watched students pass her, and fill up the seats around her. Finally the teacher walked in, his face proud and determined.

"Today, we'll be assigning your first project. Since this class is Chemistry we'll be-"

A knock at the door silenced him. The teach sighed, and walked towards the door, his eyebrows arched.

"Well well well.. If it isn't mister Coral." he mused as he opened the door, and some of the guys hooted when Tidus' gorgeous face came into view, his face grinning.

"Nice of you to join us, Coral. What's your excuse for being late?" the teacher jeered, his hands on his hips. Tidus titled his head to the side, and sat in his seat, and shook the water from his hair.

"Blitz, sir. Coach kept us late." He took out his books, and grasped a pencil, his face still illuminated with a smile. The teach rolled his eyes, and continued his briefing.

"Anyways, your project will be done with a partner, whom of which I will pick!" Groans echoed through the class, and Yuna slumped further into her chair. The teacher blabbed on about what they would do, and when he finished, the class sighed in relief, and Yuna twirled her pencil in her fingers, and closed her eyes as the teacher began to assign partners.

"For this project, I'll be putting a strong student... with a... weaker student. It will be worth half the term. Let's see... Mr. Coral!" the teacher boomed, and Tidus sighed. "With... Miss Harper. She's up for valedictorian this year... maybe if you two do well, you'll pass, Coral!" The teacher laughed, but stopped when he noticed that the whole class was staring at him, their glares shooting daggers. Yuna's eyes popped open, and she stared at the teacher for a second or two, then groaned. Tidus looked over to her, and grinned, making Dona hiss in anger. Tidus sat higher in his seat, smiling at the chance to work with the girl that seemed so hard to get. Obviously he had forgotten that he had heard her name the name before. Seemed that he had been hit in the head with way too many blitzballs. The teacher finished pairing up the students. He told them to meet with their partners, and Tidus sprang up, and grabbed his bag, calmly walking over to the empty desk beside Yuna's. Yuna slumped farther into her seat, and dumped her head in her hands. Tidus dropped his bag, and clasped his hands together, trying to take a look at Yuna's face. She looked at him, and he noticed her bi-colored eyes, and froze.

_So... beautiful.._ he thought to himself, extracting his eyes from hers and looking at the project briefing in front of him.

"S-so... how 'bout you come to my house after school and we'll... you know.. work on the project?" he said slowly, his head spinning as he thought of what to say. She thought for a minute, and nodded. He beamed, and looked into her eyes again.

"What's your name?" Tidus asked softly, a warm smile still caressing his handsome features. Yuna froze, and both Rikku and Paine(being in the same group because the teacher had finished pairing weak students with stronger ones) looked to Yuna, and they both smiled and nodded, and Yuna turned back to Tidus. She smiled faintly and answered,

"I'm Yuna Harper."

The ride home to Tidus' was incredibly quiet, with Yuna mostly looking out of the window, her head resting on her hand. Tidus would occasionally looked over at her, and quickly look away. So.. this was... the girl whose Diary he was reading. Déjà vu, isn't it? The irony was that he had thought the exact same thing the day before, but from being the lead scorer on his Blitz team, he was tackled more than any other player, making him rather forgetful. When they finally turned into his driveway, Yuna sat bolt upright as she saw his large house standing majestically on the slope, its windows shining. Tidus got out of his car and hop-skipped over to Yuna's side, but was laid flat when she opened the door, smacking him in the chest with the door. Yuna got out, and shrieked, her hands flying to her mouth when she saw Tidus on the pavement, little chocobos encircling his head, squeaking 'kweh! kweh! kweh!' as he groaned. She flew to his side, and helped him up.

"Are... are you okay?" Yuna said in a small, extremely quiet voice. His eyes shot open, and his eyes flew to hers, and he nodded silently, walking unsteadily with her to his front door. As he opened it with his key, a small whir of blonde hair came streaking up to them, knocking Tidus to the floor, the blur hugging his big brother's head.

"Tidus! You're back!" Zidane giggled, messing up his brother's hair. Tidus laughed, and locked his brother in a small headlock, and giving him a noogie, making Zidane shriek with happiness, and wiggle his way out, getting up. He froze when he looked up at Yuna, and smiled as he saw her smile back at him.

"Who are you?" he asked cutely, taking her hand. Yuna smiled broadly. She loved children. She knelt down to him, and brushed a little bit of hair from his face.

"I'm Yuna." she said softly, and winked at him. He giggled, and hugged her, making Yuna's eyes open a little. She hugged him back, and closed her eyes.

"I'm Zidane, Yunie!" Zidane said rather loudly, and let go of her, taking her hand again and leading her into the kitchen. Tidus sighed, and followed them, hearing little Zidane tell Yuna his super-secret recipe for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He could see Yuna nod quietly at his instructions, and she followed them, and made him his sandwich.

"So, whatcha doin' here, Yuna?" Zidane said cheerfully, sitting himself down at his kitchen table, taking a huge bit out of his sandwich, barely chewing.

"I'm here to work on a project with your brother." she said quietly, pulling out her books from her bag. Tidus looked to her, and smiled. Zidane always had a way with people. The weirder ting was that it seemed that Zidane seemed to get along a lot better with Yuna than with him. Was she... wary of him? Did she... want to avoid him? Well, maybe they could become friends eventually..

"Well, I gotta go do my homework, but I'll be back later, okay, Yuna?" Zidane said happily, hopping off his chair and dashing upstairs, instantly making the atmosphere awkward. Tidus went to busy himself, taking out a pitcher, and grabbed some lemons and his juicer.

"Her Yuna... would you like a glass of lemonade?" Tidus asked kindly, peeling the lemons and taking out the sugar. Yuna scribbled a few more things in her notebook, and looked up, smiling.

"That'd be nice."

**((Well, again, that's all.. and it's... really short... Sorry! Well, again, if anyone can provide fanart that they've done themselves, or will be properly belonging to my fic... than I'd be thrilled! Stay tuned... and I promise the TidusxYuna fluff will come!**

**Ciao and much luff,**

**-Chiishi))**


	7. Chapter 7: Friends

**((Well... I'm back! Sorry for the wait! My writer's block had smashed me over and over again on my head... so writing was difficult for me. But... now it's gone! And here's the newest chapter! Thanks to all those who commented. I love y'all! Well... here's the next chapter! Hope you all review!**

**Disclaimer: SqaureEnix I own not! (Hurrah for Yoda!)))**

**Chapter 7:**Friends

**A week later…**

As the two of them walked to the teacher's desk at the front of the class, all eyes were on them. Tidus stopped a foot or two front the edge, and tossed the think stack of paper onto the teacher's desk, a look of grim satisfaction on his face. Yuna looked hopefully at the teacher as he gingerly pulled the stack of paper to his face, and he looked over the project with a look of astonishment.

"This… is… one of the best projects I've ever read…" The teacher stuttered, gazing at a couple of hand-drawn diagrams that were included.

"Miss Harper… and Coral… I'd have to say… you make a marvelous team…" The teacher gasped, and he slumped in his chair, rubbing his temple with his fingers.

"Well… I guess… this deserves an A+…" he concluded, and Tidus' face lit up, and he cheered, positioning his hand for a high-five with Yuna. She smiled meekly and lent forward, tapping his hand softly. A few giggles escaped from the audience of students, and the bell rung, signaling that they had to go home. Yuna sighed in relief, and went to the back of the classroom, tugging her bag onto her shoulder. She followed the crowd out the door, and smiled silently to herself. Today was definitely a good day. As she went to go down the stairs, however, she heard Tidus call out to her. She turned, and mustered up the best smile she could summon.

"Yuna!" he said puffing as he caught up to her. She nodded, and turned to go down the stairs, but his hand cuffed her shoulder, making her baulk.

"Can we- uh… go somewhere a little more private?" he whispered, and she turned a brilliant crimson, and she nodded slowly, gasping at she felt him take her hand and run. As they rushed down the stairs, it seemed odd that everyone was parting for Tidus to pass. Was he some sort of status symbol or something?

When they finally reached an empty corridor, he took her other hand, and looked into her brightly colored eyes.

"You were wonderful to me this past week…" he said softly, blinking slowly and looking down. He breathed deeply, and looked back to her face.

"What I'm meaning to say is that… well… Zidane really likes you, ya know? And I was hoping that we could hang out more often… You're a really sweet girl… and I was hoping that…"

"Oh, Tidie! I was looking all over for you!" a voice squealed, immediately making Tidus let go of Yuna's trembling hands. It was none other than Dona, dolled up in an extremely short mini skirt and tube top.

"Dona! What are you doing here!" Tidus asked unhappily, cracking his knuckles in nervousness of the events that had taken place in the last minute or two.

_Damnit, Dona! I was just about to ask out Yuna!_

"Looking for you, of course!" Dona squealed, taking Tidus' arm. He growled silently, and looked back apologetically at Yuna, and retched his arm from Dona's vice-like grip.

"Dona! I was kind of in the middle of something!"

"Sooo? It's just Yuna Harper. Don't waste your time on her!"

"She's my friend, Dona! Anyways, the dress code does apply for all the time in school!"

"I don't care, let's just go!"

"Sorry, Yuna. I'll call you later, okay?" Tidus said apologetically, ready to yell his heart out at Dona for ruining his moment.

Yuna stood there, and looked down, a hand over her heart.

_Why is my heart beating so fast! And did he just say I was his friend?_

As Yuna walked home, she couldn't help but think over what had happened today. Her heart was still beating furiously, and at the pit of her stomach, she could feel a bubbly emotion. She had no idea of what it was, but she remembered a time when her mother had told her about that certain feeling.

'Well Yuna…' her mother had said, stroking the young version of Yuna's shining locks. They were sitting in the courtyard of Yuna's old home, with Yuna in her mother's lap. Her mother had told her stories of her father and how the two had met.

'_When you feel strongly for someone, you get a bubbly, giddy-like emotion in your gut, and it's hard to let go of that feeling. It will keep you spellbound and you simply cannot stop thinking about when you've felt it. I cannot tell you the name of this emotion… but I can tell you one thing. When you do feel it, you'll need to search within yourself to find out what it truly is." Yuna looked up at her mother expectantly, curiosity dancing in her bi-colored eyes._

'_But won't it hurt?' She had said, placing her tiny hands on her chest. Yuna's mother had laughed, and placed a kiss on her daughter's forehead, telling her of how special she was._

Oh, but what a special, marvelous laugh that was. It seemed to have a life of its own, lighting up the day of any lucky person. Now, Yuna would give anything to have her mother back in her life. Not her father. He was never really there. He worked for most of his life, convinced that the only way he could provide for his family was to work and earn his pay.

All of that had gone down the toilet years ago, when Yuna's mother had painlessly passed on from an unknown disease. Braska only got worse. He went out basically every night, leaving Yuna by herself, to go out to drink his sorrows away. But, since he drank way too much, he became an alcoholic and eventually left Yuna entirely. He had packed his bags and left, leaving a sobbing Yuna on the doorstep of their once wondrous home.

Yuna approached her old house, and sighed. There was everything, except that everything was unkempt. The grass was long and thick, the windows smeared with grime from the abandonment it had suffered. Yuna could only look on in silent defeat as she viewed her old home. It was filled with so many memories, and most of them were troubling for her. So much had gone on, and she knew that she could never forget what had happened here.

When Yuna finally arrived home, she shouted her hello, and found that she heard no answer. She heard a long, troubled sigh, and she stepped into the brightly lit living room, and saw her uncle on the couch with his head in his hands, a set of papers resting on the coffee table before him.

"Uncle Cid!" Yuna said quietly, running to his side, trying to see his face. He looked up, and she noticed many lines of stress and unhappiness etched into his face.

"What's wrong?" She whispered, and Cid sighed again.

"Ya know how yer aunt left me a while back for another man?" Yuna nodded.  
"Well.. She's finally sent me the divorce papers. The thing is, I don't know if I'll ever be able to pay off her price. Her lover's… somethin' like a millionaire." Cid snarled, malice written finely on his face. Yuna's expression melted, and she threw an arm over her uncle's broad shoulders, and gave him a couple of comforting pats.

"It'll be okay, Cid. Everything'll be all right…" she mumbled, and Cid looked up at her, and nodded.

"I'm sure yer right. I'll be off to work then. Seeya tonight, Yuna." Cid got up, tugged on his jacket, and marched miserably out the door. Yuna looked down, and heard him start his car, and he took off, his breaks screeching as he sped down the road.

"We're home!" Rikku hollered in a singsong voice, tugging a sleepy Brother behind her. Yuna looked up, and waved. Since Tidus and her had had a spare period before the regular time of dismissal, they had arrived home a lot early than other students.

"How was last period?" Yuna asked happily, while flipping through channels on the Comsphere.

"Boring as usual!" she chirped, rolling her eyes, "So… how was Science? How'd you and Tidus do on your project?" Yuna thought for a minute, and stood, walking over to them.

"Well… we got an A+.. And I think… Tidus is my friend now!" she said happily yet quietly, and Rikku's eyes went wide.

"Really? How do ya know?"

"Well…" Yuna began, "He was going to ask me something, but that stupid Dona came and took him away… and he mentioned that I was his friend…" Yuna said shyly, a small blush tingling her cheeks. Rikku grinned mischievously, and did a little dance.

"I bet he was going ta ask you out! I'm sure of it!" she giggled, and Yuna's eyes went as wide as dinner plates.

"No way! Why would he… want to go on a date… with me?" She said doubtfully, her head spinning.

"Justa feeling, ya know?" Rikku giggled, bouncing upstairs, her hair bobbing to her bouncing. Yuna went to the couch, and plopped down heavily, heaving a sigh. Why would he, of all the good-looking, hot, sexy, single guys, want to ask her out?

The phone rang, interrupting her thoughts. She jumped up, dashing to the phone.

Great. It's probably just Uncle Cid calling Brother and Rikku to tell them the news…

"Hello?"

"Hey Yuna! It's Tidus!"

Yuna baulked. It was Tidus! Her heart rate sped up to a million beats per hour, and she clutched the phone nervously in her hands.

"Ummm… What's up?"

"_Nothing much. Remember how I said I'd call you after Dona literally dragged me away?"_ Yuna giggled. Yes, yes he did.

"Right! Well… what's going on?"

"_Oh… nothing much, really… I was just wondering if you'd like to… you know… drop my house today?" _Her heart skipped a beat. Yes… yes! That'd be great!

"Sure! When will you be expecting me?" There was a pause on the line.

"Well… whenever you can get over here! Need a ride?"

"Oh… no… that's okay. I can walk. See you soon!"

"Bye!"

Yuna hung up the phone, and giggled happily, rushing to the door.

"Rikku! I'm going… out!"

When she finally reached Tidus' house, she rung the doorbell, and was immediately greeted by Zidane glomp-tackling her to the ground. Inside she saw Tidus grinning, and she got up, smiling a tiny bit.

"Hey… sorry to disappoint you… but we're going somewhere." Tidus said simply, shrugging his coat on.

"Where?" Yuna said quietly, eyeing him curiously.

"Oh… no where special. I was hoping you could come with Zidane and me to go see my brother and my mom. They're in town." Tidus locked the door, and escorted Yuna and his brother to his car.

"Oh… okay." Yuna said softly, ducking her head to get into his car, shutting the door.

"Next stop… Harbor Bay Hotel!"

When they stepped into the lobby, two brilliant heads of blonde hair came rushing up to them. Yuna smiled at the woman, but stopped dead when she saw the other Blondie. It was an exact copy of Tidus. He had the same sort of look about him, but their eyes set them apart. Tidus' eyes were light, oceanic blue orbs, while his twin Shuyin had a more squallish inferno of a blue. Their mother, however, was one of the most gorgeous women Yuna had ever seen. Her eyes were an identical blue of Tidus', and her long blonde hair reached to about her waist. When Zidane saw his mother, he ran up to her and gave her legs a hug. When Tidus and Shuyin saw each other, they ran up to each other, pounded knuckles, and gave a high-five.

When Shuyin saw Yuna, he whistled, and waved his eyebrows suggestively at Tidus, who laughed and shook his head. Shuyin then held his hands up in a 'why me' position, and pouted.

"Mom, this is Yuna Harper. Yuna, this is my mom." Tidus introduced the both of them, and Tidus' mother's eyebrows rose.

"Yuna… you look so much like your mother…" She said sadly, and Yuna's mouth shot open.

"You… you knew my mother?"

"Sure did. Went through most of life's difficulties together. But we'll save that for another time." Tidus' mother said remorsefully, but her face cheered up immediately.

"Sooo… Yuna, eh? You single?" Shuyin said flirtatiously, and Yuna's face lit up like a flame.

"Well… it's a shame to see such a fine lady be wasted upon my brother… pity, really…" Shuyin said cockily, smiling at Tidus' now furious expression.

Tidus felt something boil in the pit of his stomach. Damn Shuyin and his way of hitting on women. Why did he have to hit on YUNA! He looked away, and felt an unfamiliar feeling in his gut…

_Wait… _Tidus thought to himself as he saw Yuna look to him and smile gently. His face felt hot and his limbs were shaky…

Did that mean he had feelings for her?

**((Bum bum buuuuuuuuum! Well... what did you all think? I wrote that... in a two day time period... and it took about 3 hours to properly write and proofread! Well... what will happen to these now star-struck lovers? Stay tuned for the next chapter! Happy Halloween!**

**FANART IS STILL WANTED **

**Ciao and much love to you all,**

**-Chiishi XD)) **


	8. Chapter 8

((Welcome back, loyal readers! I'm soooo sorry! I was kind of on a break, and my inspiration hit rock bottom! I hope this chapter can be compensation for my time wasted in doing absolutely nothing!

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything of Squaresoft or SquareEnix. I am, however, the owner of Random Guy. And, it's kinda weird. I've fallen in love with Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist. That adds him to the list with Tidus! :3!))**

**Chapter 8**

'_Well… I'll take a mental note to personally kill Shuyin the next time he lays eyes on Yuna.._' Tidus thought quickly, a bounce in his step as he walked up the step to the school, his books lightly held in his arms, just coming back from the blitz stadium from last period's practice. As he made his way to his locker, he smiled and waved to a couple of people, ad they waved back. When he finally made it to his locker, he absent-mindedly twirled the lock whistling a little sub-conscious ditty. He stuffed his book in, and shut the door, and his eyes widened.

As he was putting away his books, he never noticed a small crowd gathered around him and the neighboring lockers. Now, in front of his eyes, was a truly startling scene. Dona was… sucking face with a guy… Tidus had seen before with Dona. His face hardened, and he put his blitzball on the floor. This was it. He was going to end this. He walked up, and tapped Dona's shoulder. She let her lips smack from the guy's face, and she slowly turned around. She gasped, and looked down.

"T-tidus! I was just… uh… seeing if I could get something out from the back of his throat!" Dona stuttered, her fingers lacing together in mock innocence. Tidus scoffed, and crossed his arms.

"Dona, you know that I'm not that stupid. I.. don't even know why I bother anymore with you. All you care for is yourself, and whoever is going to share your bed with next." He said coldly, his eyes shooting sharp pointy daggers to her face. She appeared to be sad, and she sniffed. He rolled his eyes, and continued.

"And… when you started to throw yourself at me, I always denied you. Do you know why?" he said quietly, the group behind them stepping in so their ears could hear the would-be-but-never-were-and are-not-a-couple's conversation. Dona shook her head, and looked distractedly away, and Tidus growled.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you! Well then Dona, I'd say this if we are a couple, but since we're friends, I guess it applies to you too. We're breaking up. I don't even want to be your friend, you self-righteous bitch!" And with that, his heel turned, and he picked up his Blitzball, and offered her the sight of his victorious back as he walked off.

Something in Dona snapped. Her angry appeared out of nowhere, and it boiled, churned, and finally, poured over the top of her cauldron of emotions. Her face turned red, her pupils closing to little, almost pinprick-sized dots. Her hands clenched, and her face contorted.

"You come back here! How dare you ever say that! You don't have the right! All I ever wanted was to get to be close with you! Every girl wants you! And, when you rejected me, I persisted.. Because where ever there is a will… there's a god damned way!" She yelled at his back, and he waved it off with a swish of his hand.

"_Come back here! _I'm not done! I loved you! I loved you, okay?" she screeched, and Tidus turned around, his face on fire and his body in a casing of flame.

"You don't even know the meaning of the emotion LOVE, Dona! All it is to you is a faint poke. To those who know it, it's a warm, beautiful feeling that makes you want to sing and burst out laughing! It's not longing or lust, it's a comfort that no one can describe. And how do I know this? Because I'm in lo-.." He stopped. All eyes were on him now. Dona sneered, and dug her foot into his weakness.

"With who?" she said almost in a sickly sweet tone.

"Certainly not with you!" Yet again his heel turned, and he walked his way down the hall, but stopped short with what Dona said next.

"I'm…. I'm pregnant… With your child!" The crowd gasped. Tidus turned around, aghast and angry. Dona's suck face mate looked shocked. The long hall fell silent. Dona's man (We'll call him Random Guy, RG for short) balled his fists, and had his turned to pull Dona towards him.

"You're my girlfriend! You said that you didn't want anything to do with that guy!" he shouted, pointing at Tidus, "Dona, we're through too! All I can see now in you is a slut. A slut that can't even manage to keep herself for her fucking boyfriend!" Dona's face blew up with tears, and she pouted between the two guys.

"Oh, Dona! I have a fun little fact for you. I've never… _ever… __ever _even been in the same room with you… alone… ever." Tidus said calmly, turning his back yet again on Dona and the startled, shocked and even amused crowd, and of course, RG.

As Tidus' back finally disappeared from view, Dona clung to RG, the crocodile tears splashing like twin waterfalls onto the floor around them.

"You didn't mean it, did you? I love you! I love you!" Dona cried, making RG shake his head.

"I could only take it back… if you said my name. What is my name?" he said quietly, his eyes flooding with sadness.

"Erm… I don't know."

"We're over."

As Yuna walked down the hall, just a floor under from where Tidus was duking it out with Dona, she was joined by Rikku, who came out of her Calculus class, and Paine, who came out of Art. Yuna had come from music.

"So… what's the plan for lunch today?" Rikku chirped, a bright, fresh smile on her face. Paine shrugged, and Yuna looked doubtful.

"I suppose that maybe going to a quiet a place in the halls to eat and talk would be nice… but sitting with Lulu in the library sounds good too." She said softly, a slim finger propped neatly under her lip in thought. Both of the other girls nodded, and they started to walk haphazardly down the hall, not knowing where they were going.

The day was lovely. The clouds were sparse, the sky a brilliant aquamarine. The dun was shining like it would never stop, and birds chirped and sang their songs to one another. Occasionally, the unmistakable 'kweh' of an illegally kept chocobo could be heard. But, since this high school was special, they had legal chocobos to take riding lessons with.

As the girls pondered their means of where to eat, Rikku squealed.

"Yunie, look!" she gleefully pointed, and Yuna's eyes wandered to what Rikku was pointing at. Her eyes widened considerably, and she immediately shook her head.

"Awww… come on, Yuna. It could be fun!" Paine nudged her, and Yuna hid her face in her hands.

It was a poster, colored brightly with… well… bright colors and glitter. It was an advertisement for a school singing competition. It had benefits. Whoever won would proceed into a city wide, then national competition. Rikku and Paine were right, it was a good idea… but apparently Yuna didn't see the prize and its figures. The prize for winning the city-wide competition was… one hundred thousand gil. That could power Cid's family for at least a couple of years without Cid working.

"You should enter!" Rikku giggled, a puppy face scouring her features.

"Noooo thank you!" Yuna pouted, crossing her arms. She turned around, and she sighed.

"I won't do it."

"What won't you do?" A voice called from down the hall. Three heads turned. There, jogging down the hall, was Tidus. His hair bobbed and swayed as he jogged, and when he finally reached them, he gave them a questioning look, and Paine pointed to the sign.

"We suggested that Yunie would enter… she's an excellent singer… but she doesn't wanna do it." Rikku shot her puppy eyes at Tidus, and was almost catapulted backwards from the force her look gave.

"Awww… Come on, Yuna… it'd be a chance of a lifetime." Tidus softly said, making Yuna blush. Tidus eyed her curiously, wondering why she was blushing in the first place.

"I don't want to." Her voice sounded like it came from an ant, and she looked away.

"Yuna…" Tidus said sadly, cuffing her shoulder in his hand, making her head fly up to look at his face. It was sad, and in the murkiness of his eyes, she saw traces of anger. What had gone on earlier? They heard shouting.. but they(meaning YRP) thought that it was just a teacher getting cross with a student. Yuna's feeling smoldered, and she sighed, her mind running at 100 miles a minute. She looked at random things, her head whirring. Finally, she looked at her friends, and sighed.

"I'll do it." She said calmly, a tremor just slightly butting in into her voice. The three of them gasped, and Rikku and Paine's heads turned to Tidus. Was he a hypnotist or something?

"Then it's settled then! Yunie's entering!" Rikku hollered, whooping for all it was worth. She grabbed a pen from Yevon knows where, and scrawled Yuna's name a tad messily on the sign up paper, just below the poster.

"Yuuuuu-naaaa Haaaar-peeeer." She mumbled as she scrawled, pausing at each syllable to see if she had spelled it correctly. Rikku wasn't too good with spelling. She was an Eng Bhedaphone, so juggling two languages and starting to learn Guado and Ronso had tipped her language balance until it was out of whack.

Paine rolled her eyes as Rikku bounced from her position at the poster, and she wound her arms around Yuna's and Tidus' shoulders. She giggled, shook with excitement, and squealed.

"Yuna's gonna be in the competition… Yunie's gonna be singing… in front of a crowd… with lotsa peeeeooople… and she's gonna be great… and all pretty… I'm gonna do her hair! Muhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!" Rikku coughed, gagging for air after she cackled. She loosened herself from Tidus and Yuna, and staggered her way to a drinking fountain. Paine smiled faintly, and nodded approvingly at Yuna.

"You'll be awesome, I can feel it." Paine gave a thumbs up, and turned, walking over to Rikku. Tidus and Yuna watched amusedly as Paine whacked Rikku's back, for she had taken a bit from her apple of her lunch, and was now coughing on it.

Tidus looked back to Yuna, and gritted his teeth.

"Ummm… Yuna?" He asked quietly, his head cocking to the side.

"Yes?" she answered quietly, smiling at him.

"Can we… go and talk somewhere… a little more private?" he said smoothly, and she nodded.

"Let's go."

Now, they sat on a bench, on the third floor of the school, out on a balcony, with the door closed behind them. They occasionally said a few things, but they were lost in their own thoughts.

"Yuna… It's good that you're going in that competition… It really is a once in a lifetime chance…" he said distractedly, looking out onto the harbor that was just near their school.

"Yeah… I'm sorry I was such a coward about that." She said softly, her hands resting gently on her lap. She began to shake.

"Listen… Wait… Yuna? What's wrong?" Tidus asked quietly, noticing that Yuna's face was bowed, her hair hiding her face, her shoulders quivering. She looked up, and Tidus' face fell. Yuna was crying her eyes out, her eyes already red from her minute of crying?

"My- my mother's dream w-was f-for me to b-become a s-singer… and she's dead! Se died such a long time ago… a-and I cast aside my singing a year after she died… she was my inspiration… and my dad's gone… I'm so alone!" she cried, her body retching with tears. Tidus immediately took her into his arms, and she sobbed into his chest, her little hands finding their way to his back. He patted her hair, and he calmly whispered little things like 'It's going to be okay' into her ears, and nodded at each one. She let go of him, and she sniffed, and wiped away her tears with the back of her hand.

"I just need inspiration… I've been living in the shadow too long… I need to be able to feel! I feel so… dead inside!" she sobbed, and she stopped as he placed a hand on her cheek. She looked into his eyes, and him into hers. Their head nodded closer to each other, and before Yuna could react, Tidus' lips pressed lightly onto hers.

All she could feel was bliss. She melted into him. This was… her first kiss… Wow… He was soft and gentle, not too demanding. Finally, something clicked in Yuna's head. Her previously shut eyes flew open, and broke away. Tidus seemed to realize this too, and he moved away.

And there they sat, looking into each other's eyes, shocked.

**((Muhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! That's it! Tune in next time for… Chapter 9! What will become of our star-struck lovers? Bum bum bum bum!**

**Ciao, with much luff,**

**-Chiishi X3))**


	9. Chapter 9

**((Hi guys! Sorry to the fans of NUTE-A.. I just need to polish up and refurbish the chapter. Here's another though, so be happy!**

**Disclaimer: Me equals not owning SquareEnix or Soft. DEAL WITH IT.))**

**Chapter 9**

'_What am I doing?'_ Yuna thought quickly, panic rushing into her eyes. She got up, and ran out the door, Tidus looking on behind her. He touched a hesitant pair of fingers to his lips, and breathed in. Her lips… felt like the softest satin. No girl's lips could ever compare of how lovely hers felt. He leant his back against the wall behind him, his hands gratefully rubbing his temples. But… why did she run away? Was she… scared? Was she unhappy with him?

He sighed, and closed his eyes, wishing to let the world leave him be for a moment. He heard many things, like Yuna's running steps down the hallway, a glimmer of sound, which sounded like Dona crying her eyes out. Serves her right.

But his mind never faltered for a second from Yuna. She was just this… bright light that was smothered. Smothered by what, however, he couldn't think of.

'_Wait… she said something about her dad being gone… I remember that… But… I thought a couple of days ago I saw another entry with her dad mentioned in it…' _He sat bolt upright, his eyes shooting open. He dug into his book bag, and drew out the leather-bound volume we all know and love. He dug through the warn pages, occasionally licking his fingers between flipping. He scanned and searched, and then he found it. Yuna's clear, 15-year old writing smudged with tears stood out like a sore thumb.

Yuna Harper, aged 15, not bothering to write the date

**Dear Diary:**

**Dad came back today. He really didn't seem too happy to see me. Holy shit, he looks bad! His chin is disgustingly uncouth with a rough and crudely shaven stubble. His hair's not its usual shiny, lovely brown mess, it's a dark brown, and it looks as though he hasn't washed it in a month. He has alcohol on his breath, and when he got here, he just slumped on the couch, his eyes not focusing on anything than the empty beer bottle in his hand. He yelled at Cid to get him a beer, but Cid refused, as he should, and my father started to yell at him hysterically, his words incomprehensible. Cid shook his head, and went over to Rikku, who was standing in the kitchen, watching cautiously from her position on a stool. She shot a sympathetic look my way, and I nodded. I walked slowly to my dad's side, and I tried to comfort him, and his hand shot out and slapped me. He slapped me! Cid growled, and picked my dad up, grumbling of why he even let him in. He shoved my dad out the door, and closed it behind him. Rikku and I rushed to the big window that was on the front facing wall of the house. We watched my Uncle barrage my father with a lecture. My dad stared on ahead, and Cid shrugged, sat down beside my dad, and took a silver packet from his pocket, and popped a cylinder object from it. When Rikku saw this, she growled. 'I thought he said he had quit.' she said angrily. I just watched on as Cid smoked his cigarette, and he even offered one to Dad, who didn't respond. He just looked on blankly ahead as he always did, and finally, he tipped over, drunk as a skunk.**

Tidus was surprised by the way that she ended the entry. She didn't seem to sound very serious, but Tidus knew that every weird she wrote, she meant literally. Tidus shook his head, and put away the diary. He really had to give that back to Yuna some day. He shouldered on his bag, and walked out into the hall, the balcony where temporary bliss once was shared now empty.

As Tidus put away his books in his locker, he noticed Dona looking at him with big, doe eyes, which were painful to look upon, for the whites of her eyes were tinged a blood red from her crying. He looked away, and slammed his locker shut, his heel turning. He dared not bother to even try anything with Dona. All of her 'sadness' and tears were her fault anyways. Sometimes it's good to keep yourself for a special someone… instead of whoring around when you could be doing something more productive in your life. Anyways, who broke her faucets? Every time Tidus saw her, her eyes were always glistening with tears. Talk about having emotional issues.

"Hey man!" A voice called out to him, making his head whirl in the speaker's direction. It was Wakka, walking down the hall from his last class. The end of the day bell had just rang, and Wakka was looking for Tidus, because Tidus always gave Wakka a lift him. When Wakka observed his friend's face, however, his face fell as well.

"What's shoving that stick farther up your ass?" Wakka asked timidly, and Tidus grimaced. Wakka really did have the harshest analogies.

"Nothing man… nothing." Tidus said sadly, and they nodded to each other, and started to walk briskly to the student parking lot.

When Yuna finally found someone she knew, she sighed in relief. Rikku. When Rikku saw her, she raised her eyebrows, but her expression dropped like lead when she saw tears running freely down Yuna's pretty, innocent face. Yuna sobbed as she stopped running, and Rikku held her arms out to her. Yuna took this invitation, and she was scooped into her cousin's caring arms.

"Yunie? Shhh… It's okay… What's wrong?" Rikku said calmly, rubbing her cousin's back rhythmically with a hand. Yuna hiccoughed, and sniffed loudly, drawing the attention of a couple students.

"Tidus… he…" Yuna wailed quietly, her shoulders shaking. Rikku's eyes opened wide, and she became angry. No one touches her cousin.

"Tidus! What did he do? I swear, if he did anything to you Yuna… I will totally cut his balls off… boil them, and then serve them to him hot while his is still on the ground, clutching at where his future chances of children were!" Rikku growled, and was surprised when Yuna giggled. Rikku's eyebrows shot up, and Yuna started to laugh through her sobs.

"No, no, no Rikku! He didn't do anything bad… he just… kissed me." Yuna said, getting softer as she went on. If it was possible, Rikku's eyes bulged even bigger than they were before.

"He kissed you, that's… great!" Rikku squealed, and squeezed her cousin, causing Yuna to groan. Rikku began to skip about in Yuna's embrace, making Yuna to let go. Rikku whooped and spun around in circles. Yuna looked confused as her cousin danced as a wild woman would. Rikku finally stopped, and plunked herself on a bench, wiping her brow with he back of her hand. Yuna sat down as well.

"Yunie, you know… this really isn't a bad thing! Remember back at the beginning of school… here was you, anti-social, and I was your only friend." Rikku started, and Yuna looked down dejectedly.

"Ouch." She said feebly, realizing that yes, that was Miss Yuna Harper way back when.

"Well, now that you and Tidus are friends, you've become more open… and I really like the change! You're brightened up physically and mentally… and it's treat to see. Well, besides the fact that Paine and Lulu came, I really think that Mr. T had affected you. Whenever you're around him, you blush." Rikku concluded, and Yuna nodded. But, just as the good thoughts began to flow into her head, one bad thought popped in.

"But Rikku… I can't get close to anyone… let alone love them…" Yuna said sadly, her fingers fidgeting. Rikku sighed.

"Why not?" Rikku shot, her eyes upward.

"Because… look what happened to my mom and dad. They're both gone from my life… and if I try to love anyone, they'll just push me away."

"That's not true! You have Dad and me!" Rikku said dejectedly, her features forming a petite pout.

"I'm… just afraid, I guess…" Yuna said sadly, and Rikku nodded, and froze. Her cell phone was ringing.

"Heeeeeello? Rikku speaking!" she said happily, shrugging at her cousin. Yuna looked away. It was Wakka.

_Hey, Rikku. Tidus and me have a plan. We gotta get together at your place._

"Why my place? Isn't your spacious enough?"

_Uhhh… I lost my key. I gotta wait until my brother comes home. But that's beside the point. You know what happened between Dona and Tidus today?_

"Yeah, I heard."

_Well… now Dona's making all this stuff up about Tidus and how he got her pregnant. The word's spreading quickly, ya?_

"What? That idiot of a girl! Where'd you find this out?"

_Letty on the Blitz team, ya? He told us when we were on our way to Tidus' car!_

"Well… I guess that's okay. Five-ish sound okay to you?"

_Works for us. Seeya at five, girl!_

Rikku shut the slid of her phone, and looked at Yuna for a minute, her eyebrow arched. She stood, and took Yuna's hand.

"We gotta go! We got revenge to plan!"

All Yuna could do was stare disbelievingly at her cousin. What was going on!

**((Bum bum bum! There is my short chapter! Just wait… there's more coming… like Halloween and getting some sweet revenge! See you all later!**

**Much luff and ciao,**

**-Chiishi))**


	10. Chapter 10

**((I'm back, yes, I'm baaack! I got you all a fairly long chapter! I think it was worth the wait! Thanks for being so patient! I needed a break to think up my stories for a while. Of course, I'm not as amazing as Nikki-Of-Spira, who can produce amazing chapters every week! Anyhoo, onto the chapter!))**

Disclaimer: I do not, I repeat, do not own anything of Squaresoft's… I swear on my life.

**Chapter 10:** Get Dona p.1 and Halloween!

_Here goes nothing…_

With Halloween approaching fast, the minds of the students in Yuna's high school were clouded with thoughts of free candy and skimpy costumes. But, the minds of six individuals were focused somewhere else.

Halloween was three days away. On every doorstep perched a jack o' lantern, the candle inside flickering brightly, making the gruesome expressions carved into the orange gourd seem fierce and hostile. Paper witches were taped messily to the windows, badly colored bright and dark by toddlers and small children. On the step of a certain house, a black cat slept soundly. It stirred as it heard a sound from behind it, its orange eyes wide and glittering. There was a hiss-like chuckle from behind it, and the cat went flying from the step and landed into a leaf pile. The kicker was a Cait Sith, which only appears around Halloween. They cause endless trickery and trouble, and if you caught one, there was a myth that you'd have good luck for the rest of your life.

For the last couple of weeks, one group had been plotting and planning their revenge on Dona. Someone had to put her in her place. Meetings took place in different houses, and many plans were drawn and mostly scrapped. They had a plan now, which took three steps to complete. Today was step one, the rumor phase.

As Tidus pushed open the doors of his high school, he retched at the decorations that were suspended from the walls. Obviously the teaching staff had put in too much effort to decorate, for even if the creature shown was extremely and unbearably evil, id wore a cheesy and very silly grin. Pfft. What a waste of paper. As usual, the crowds in the hall were enormous, and it was difficult just to squeeze by and though the blobs of people. For a lot of students, Halloween was big. For a lot of girls, it was the only time of the year to dress up in something incredibly skimpy and even be lingerie, and it could be cast off as a 'costume'. The guys, however, had a field day enjoying each short skirt or low-cut top that could be displayed upon the most pretty of girls. Pictures and plans of potential costumes could be seen in as many lockers that were open, and Tidus couldn't help but roll his eyes at some of the ridiculous costumes. What was Yuna going to dress up as this year…?

Yuna. He still had to apologize to her for what he had done, but ever time he tried to, she would look away or simply get up and leave before he had a chance to say hello. That girl was complicated, all right. But, he couldn't help go after her. There was just something about her that allured him so. He smiled as he saw the familiar sight of the backs of his friends loom into sight. Damn, Yuna wasn't with them… Wakka's head turned slightly, and he grinned as he saw his best friend hop-skip up to the group, his arm perched on Rikku's shoulder.

"So guys, you all ready for today?" he said cheerfully, winking at Wakka. Rikku giggled and Paine simply nodded. The only part they had to perform in this scheme was this part, the rumors. Rikku, being the gossip magnet that she was, knew exactly who would spread the rumors the fastest and who could distort them into something a lot worse. In Paine's hand was a humongous stack of papers, bearing Dona's picture and a big paragraph neatly typed out. All she had to do is spread the gossip faster, to those who were not currently into the world and circuit of gossip.

As Yuna approached the group, she noticed Tidus, and immediately balked. But, as she stood there, she saw him laugh, toss his hair a bit, and carefully discuss whatever it was they were planning. Why was she afraid of him again? Oh, right, he forcefully kissed her. But was it forced? She was sad… and she enjoyed it a little… Damn, he was so cute! She blinked as she saw Rikku and Paine break off from the group, and Rikku waved as she ran by, a grin plastered on her face, and Paine saluted her with her free hand as she walked by. One of the papers flew off the top of Paine's stack, and landed at Yuna's feet. She cocked an eyebrow, and bent low to retrieve it. Just before she was about to read the first couple of words, she heard someone approach her.

"Yuna-.." It was Tidus. He stood there, a concerned look upon his face. She gulped, and looked past him. The group was gone. It was just him and her.

"So… Yuna… I…" He started, looking at his feet for inspiration. Yuna looked away worriedly, but stepped back when she was hit full on by a flyer for the Halloween dance. She tore the piece of paper off her face, and came face-to-face with Tidus, who swept a lock of hair from her face.

"Wow… where'd that breeze come from…?" he asked quietly, and smiled. She gulped yet again, and nodded, a small smile gracing her face.

"I… gotta go." She said in a small voice, and turned on her heel, her back to him, a surge of an unknown feeling pounding in her heart.

_Oh Yuna… _Tidus thought wistfully, watching her retreat into the massive crowd.

Rikku was having a field day. Her first target was Dona's group. Dona was somewhere else, so when she told them, she tried her best to sound convincing. The only problem was Leblanc. What a tough cookie she was. When they all nodded after taking in the information, they began to giggle and whisper among themselves. Success! Rikku said her goodbyes, and moved from group to group, telling her tale. Thank god today's homeroom was delayed.

Paine walked as she would normally, a blank look on her face. She licked her thumb, and plucked a sheet off the top of the pile, and slipped it through the vent at the locker's top. So far, she had planted two hundred and six sheets. Of course, Lulu had hired some library minions to slip in most of the sheets. Not that Paine had any super powers.. like super speed or anything!

Stage one of Operation: Get Dona, was a success. Mission complete!

Halloween Night

Yuna paced around her room, and sighed. She had prepared her Halloween costume… but had another that Rikku bought her! She looked longingly between the two. One, which she made herself, was what they called an ancient summoner's kimono( From FFX, durh!), the other, was a gunner outfit from her favorite book series. Why did it have to be so hard to choose between two great costumes!

Rikku walked in, and sat on Yuna's bed. She wore an orange top… green frilly shorts and she had braided a couple of strands of hair and placed chocobo feathers to top off the braids. (Rikku from FFX, basically.)

"Come on, Yunie! Brother's giving us a ride in… 10 minutes! What's making you hold your shoopufs? Can't decide?" Rikku chirped, feeling the silky fabric of the summoner's costume between her fingers. Yuna nodded, and Rikku beamed.

"Then we'll just have to use the eany-meany method, won't we?" Rikku said happily, and she scanned her finger quickly between the two, her hand a blur, and her mouth was rapidly mumbling the ancient childish mode of picking.

"Mo!" Rikku giggled, picking up the summoner garb. Yuna smiled genuinely, and plucked the costume from Rikku's finger, and skipped to the bathroom, quietly closing the door behind her, going to apply her make-up. She'd put on her costume rolled her eyes. When you got Yuna excited, if was hard to get her out of the mood.

_Go now, if you want it  
An otherworld awaits you  
Don't you give up on it  
You bite the hand that feeds you …_ (Otherworld, opening theme of FFX)

Tidus looked over this shoulder at his phone, which sat on the bathroom sink. He was in the middle of putting on his incredibly hard costume, and he cursed loudly. He grabbed at the sink with his free hand, and flipped open the lid.

"Yo, Tidus here… and kind of busy!"

"_Yo, brudda… I gotta talk to you about somethin'"_

"I'm kind of in a jam, but shoot!"

"_Listen, you know how I've been crushin' on Lu for a while.."_

"More like an eternity.." Tidus whispered, and he heard Wakka grunt on the other end.

"_Anyways, I was thinkin' that I'd… you know… ask her out. I mean.. I really like her and all…"_

Tidus rolled his eyes in amusement. This was bound to happen eventually.

"_So, what should I do, man? You're good with the ladies!"_

Tidus was knocked so much off guard that he almost fell over.

"Well… Ummm.. Dance with her! Yeah! Then pull her off to the side.. and ask her gently!"

"_Really? Will that really work? Thanks brudda! Bye!"_

Wakka hung up immediately; leaving no time for Tidus to suggest that maybe he should be romantic about it all.

"Bye!" Tidus said in confusion, and put his phone down, and sighed. He just had to wear his fancy blitz gear for Halloween! His shoulder armor was poking into his side. His shoelaces on his boots were knotted. Great. It was always difficult putting this on by yourself. Tidus shook his hair, spraying the mirror with water. Since you'd want to look good for the girl you want to be with, you might as well take a shower, right? He sprayed on some Eau de Hypello, and was out the door in a matter of seconds. When he reached his garage, he opened the door, and swore loudly. His father took his car. Thank god for his motorbike, sitting all by its lonesome in a corner of the garage. He grabbed his helmet, but he looked behind him. There was Zidane, dressed up in a kitty costume, looking sad and lonely.

"Did daddy leave?" Zidane said sadly, gripping his candy bucket tightly. Tidus nodded, and held out his hand.

"Come on, I'll drop you off at Calli's. Would you like that?" Tidus said softly, a forced smile upon his face. Damn his self-righteous bastard of a father. Abandoning his little brother on Halloween when he said that he'd take his son out on his first Halloween without Tidus. Zidane took his brother's hand, and grabbed his tiny helmet off the shelf.

"Let's go, Zidane!" Tidus said excitedly, swinging his leg over on his bike. Zidane, Tidus swore, was half cat. Zidane leaped up behind his brother, and gripped his brother's waist. In an instant, the garage door was open, and a cloud of dust came up from the wheel of Tidus' bike. In a heart beat, they were gone, zooming off down the street.

At the dance, Dona sat talking with her group. She was wearing the most peculiar costume anyone had ever seen. It looked as though she had taken a high-rise pair of panties, two strips of fabric, a helluva lot of string and some mini angel wings and made a dress. She had looked sluttier before, though. But, at the back of the group, a couple of low-status members were whispering. Both were heavy supporters of Yevon.

"Can you believe her?" One girl asked, an appalled look upon her face. The other shook her head, and glared in Dona's direction.

"I can't believe that she'd ever think of what she's going to do! Why would she give up her baby? That was a gift from Yevon!"

"I agree! I mean… isn't against Yevon to have an abortion! I mean… what if she's not really pregnant? What if she's just making it all up to get attention?" The other nodded. She sipped her drink, and set it down beside her.

"So, who did you hear this from?" she asked calmly, fiddling with her straw.

"From Johnny.. He said he heard it from his sister who heard it from her friend's cousin's boyfriend's sister's room mate.. So it must be true, right!" The other girl nodded, and looked towards the door.

"Tch, here comes those losers…"

Losers, indeed! There was half our group of assorted heroes and heroines. (Pretty much everyone is in his or her FF stuff) Paine and Baralai immediately went to the dance floor, and Rikku and Gippal went to get a drink from the punch bowl. Who else was left but Yuna, unchanged and lonely. She quickly went to the other side of the courtyard, and went in the direction of the pool, exiting just before Tidus, Wakka and Lulu entered.

Wakka and Tidus nodded to each other, and Tidus went and sat down. He saw Baralai and Paine together, with Paine's head resting peacefully on his shoulder, their bodies moving slowly to the music. Gippal and Rikku, however, were doing their own thing. Even though this was intended to be a slow song, they were whirling each other around and around, switching randomly from salsa to tango to jive. Those two were quite the couple. Tidus finally spotted Wakka with Lulu. What the hell was he doing! He had already sat down Lulu, and from the look on her face, she was not happy. Wakka was too busy to notice because his eyes were no place else but on her extremely exposed cleavage. Man, did that woman have a rack of sweetness. She liked to show it off, too! No wonder so many boys stayed after their study hall to file books.

Then, he saw Dona staring at him, and he made a face at her outfit. Did she take something decent and poke a bunch of holes all through it? She smiled faintly at him, but he scowled, stood, and walked quickly to the boy's change room. He needed to get himself out of here. Maybe if the pool was still open, he could have a swim. Nah.. There are probably a billion sexually active couples already sucking saliva out there anyhow. Meh, might as well get a drink of water. He walked into the bathroom, and turned on a tap. He chuckled to himself as he saw a couple of guys try to straighten and gel back their hair. He had given up on that years ago. He splashed his face with some cool water, and breathed deep. He needed to apologize to Yuna.

Yuna finished changing, and was faced with a billion girls fixing their make-up at the mirror. Half of them looked like they were wearing next to nothing. She tsked, and was pushed out the wrong door by a cat-fight that was going near her. She fell to the ground, and sat up, and shook her fist at the swinging door. She got up, and straightened her skirt. She hoped she looked decent… She turned around, and smiled. The pool area was deserted. No making out couples, no giggling in the bushes… Nothing. Just her, the pool and Mr. Moon. The moon's reflection shone softly on the pool's surface. She sighed, and walked over to the edge, dipping her finger in the water. It was.. cold. She rose, and walked slowly around the pool. Suddenly, she felt the air get knocked of her. Next thing she knew, she was in the dark depths of the pool. Her lungs were screaming for air. Did she trip? As she neared the surface, she felt a strong hand pull her into the shallow end. She surfaced, and came face-to-face with her rescuer. Tidus. He smiled, and said something, but she couldn't hear him. Did he know she couldn't swim? But it didn't matter… he rescued her and saved her life. Finally, his words got through to her.

"Are you okay?" he asked softly, and she nodded. Then, she noticed his hand on her shoulder. Her eyes flashed to his face, yet she saw no sign of any unkindness. His faced only showed pure worry.

"Yuna… I'm sorry." He said softly, taking a deep breath, his eyes flickering from the water to her face.

"Why?" That was the first word she had said three days to him.

"Because… I kissed you… and you didn't want it.. you were emotional… and I took advantage of you." He said sadly, and scratched the back of his neck sheepishly.

"No, not at all! In fact… I kind of enjoyed it.." Yuna began, but than she covered her mouth her hands, her eyes wide. Tidus' eyes went as wide as round three-story windows. Tidus shook it off, and strayed to a random topic.

"I… grew up in Zanarkand. It's the city of machina, ya know? And.. I can't imagine how much fun it would be if we all went there…" Yuna's eyes lit up.

"I've always wanted to see Zanarkand… and I'd like to try out there for singing auditions…" Yuna said happily… hugging herself to keep warm.

"Yeah, we can all fly there. Everyone can go! Then we'll have a big party at my place! Or… my old place.." Tidus said, agreeing excitedly.

"And then we could see blitzball! Your Zanarkand Abes would play! We could all watch you play, in the stadium all lit up at night. I'd cheer and cheer till I couldn't cheer anymore!" Tidus nodded, and smiled.

"Right on!" Tidus said happily, but then Yuna had a confused look upon her face.

"Well, what about after the game?"

"We'd go out and have fun!"

"In the middle of the night?"

"No problem! Zanarkand never sleeps! Let's go to the sea, before the sunrise. The city lights go out one by one. The star fade... It's kinda rose- colored, right? First in the sea, then it spreads to the sky, then to the whole city. It gets brighter and brighter, till everything glows. It's really...pretty. I know you'd like it." Tidus said quietly, his eyes glazing over from the recollecting.

"I'd like to see it, someday." Yuna said in almost a whisper.

"Well you can, Yuna. We can both go!" Tidus said enthusiastically. But, he internally groaned when he saw Yuna begin to cry.

"I can't! I mean, I have no family except the one I'm with now.. and we can hardly afford anything as it is! How much i-is a hotel room in Z-zanarkand?" She said through her weeping.

"About 11000 gil a night…" Tidus said quietly, gritting his teeth.

"See! I could never afford that…"

"Yuna." Yuna looked up, and Tidus was looking at her, a soft smile playing on his lips. The water's reflections danced upon his face, and he leant in, his other arm wrapping around her shoulders. Their lips were like positive and negative charges. Immediate attraction. She wrapped her around his waist, and she delved into the kiss, and she didn't hold back this time. Her heart was beating out of her chest, and she could feel his steady heartbeat. Before she could react, she could feel something poke at her lips, and immediately, she opened them. For the first time of her life, she was being French kissed. This ensued for about a minute and a half, and finally they broke apart. Yuna's face was dazed, yet she had a huge smile on her face, and Tidus couldn't hold back his grin. But then, he noticed they were not alone. They had an entire audience. But, the funny thing was that Rikku was off at the side, a finger to her lips, a mini-stereo in her hands playing the song Suteki Da Ne. When she saw them split apart, she giggled nervously, and switched off the stereo. But then Tidus saw them all. Absolutely everyone was crowded around the pool.

It wasn't until today that Tidus realized that his school had so many students. Wakka was staring, and his jaw was slack.

"Daaaaaamn… why does he get all the action while I just get slapped?

**((It's done! What do you all think? Is it good? Bad? Absolutely horrible! Well, review!**

**Ciao and lotsa love to all,**

**-Chiishi XD))**


	11. Chapter 11

**((Hello, everyone! I'm back temporarily! I'm so sorry! I've been studying for school and all, I've had no time, and I've been lacking inspiration. So, here's a treat, and for those who are reading NUTE-A, expect a chapter soon! So here's the chapter, I hope it's not crappy or stupid... So read on!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Square-soft or any of its sub-divisions, but I do own copies of FFX, FFX-2, and Advent Children, so pwn!**

**Chapter 11: Get Dona Part Two**

**Enjoy!)) **

After that night, Tidus and Yuna became the most well known couple in the entire school. But, it couldn't be helped! Well, besides having over two hundred witnesses to prove that they were an item, theories started to surface from out of nowhere saying that they were actually long-lost lovers that were reunited just that night. Of course, this was all balderdash. Whenever a new rumor drifted to the ears of any that knew the couple, they'd just chuckle and wave it off.

As Yuna arrived home, she went quietly through the front door, unknowingly brushing off Rikku. Rikku watched after her as Yuna walked wobbly to her bedroom, almost walking into a wall as she went. Rikku grinned, and propped her head on her hand, crossing her legs as she tried to gain a comfortable position on her chair. Failing miserably, she untangled herself and slumped into the armchair, resting her head on the back of the chair. Wow, a lot of happiness could escape her cousin when she tried... if only everyone could have the same luck. Life for her cousin, Rikku knew, was constantly a struggle, and was always a losing battle. But, when that certain blonde suddenly decided to make an appearance, only fortune came from it. Rikku couldn't help but giggle when she thought of the waves of ebbing happiness that escaped her cousin every single second.

Suddenly, there was a certain disgusting burp from the living room. Rikku pulled herself up, and looked into the said room, and saw her brother, half-naked, drunk as a skunk, sprawled out on the couch. Was he waiting up for them? No.. impossible. He probably just had a couple too many. Wait.. was he mumbling something?

"R-rikku..." Yes, he definitely was. Rikku lugged herself out of the chair, and dragged her heavy feet and body over to where her brother lay drunk.

"Yeah, what's up?" Rikku said tiredly, her hands reaching up to rub her temples. Just the stench of her brother was causing her to get a headache.

"Is... Yuna home safe?" Rikku rolled her eyes. Even though they were blood relatives, it seemed that Brother could not get the principle of 'incest'. All the tries of their father pounding the right morals into his head really didn't seem to pay off. All Rikku could do was nod. Brother let out a satisfied sigh, and stuck his hand down his pants. Rikku feel back onto her butt in disgust. Brother grunted, and closed his eyes, his hand unmoving. Perverted pig. It's not like Rikku didn't have any idea about the porn magazines under his bed. On top of it all, Brother was almost old enough to have a toddler-aged child. He needed to move out. Badly. The problem: Surprise, surprise! Brother is broke. Always has been, always will be. Rikku sighed, and pulled herself up.

"Don't do drug! Drugs are bad fer you! Dey cloud yer judgment and stuff!" Brother suddenly blurted out, licking his lips, his hand doing things unknown in his pants. Rikku shook her head.

"Maybe you should take your own advise, oh wise and knowledgeable older brother!" Rikku snorted, pulling her jacket tighter around herself, exiting the room. She could've sworn she heard Brother mumbling 'That is right, you respect me! Yes, respect..'. Then she heard a crash from the living room. She knew then that her brother just knocked himself out cold. Serves him right.

As she passed Yuna's room, and opened the door, sticking her nose right in. No signs of life, besides a huddled form under the blankets. "Yuna?" No answer. Well, all that romancing must've tuckered her out. With no romantic experience, Rikku wasn't surprised that Yuna was exhausted. Well, no use staying awake, Rikku thought, stifling a long yawn. As she entered her room, she looked back behind her, and she could've sworn she saw her cousin's bedroom light flicker on. She knew that them having separate rooms was a hasty decision, she needed to be there to keep her cousin out of trouble. Maybe Yuna needed someone to save her from herself... Well... never mind.. Rikku sighed, and closed her door, hoping with all her heart that Yuna's life would take a turn for the best.

As soon as she heard her cousin's bedroom door shut, Yuna flicked on her light, sitting bolt upright in bed. Sleep wasn't an option. As she looked down, she let out a nervous giggle as she noticed that she was still wearing her costume. Slipping her legs over the side of her bed, she stood slowly, taking noiseless steps over to her dresser, pulling out a set of green fleece pajamas. She turned slightly, and her eyes caught her reflection in her wall mirror.

Hair mustled, kimono out of place. She let her eyes sweep down her form cautiously, and let out a sigh of relief. She didn't look too bad tonight, did she? She reached for her disattached sleeves, and tugged gently on the strings attached, letting the silky yet damp fabric slide smoothly off of her arms. A sudden breeze of cold air swished by her bare arms, and she shivered. Next, she went to the skirt, taking it off slowly, then carefully folding it. She slipped in the pajama pants, pulled off the curious cross-shaped top, and unhooked her bra, letting it fall to the floor. She pulled on the tank top, and sat on the edge of her bed, her head in her hands.

_I wonder what will happen now..._ Yuna thought in a daze, the scene replaying from not long before in her mind. Her heart beat sped up to the point of where it hurt, and her hands went to her lips, still feeling the feather-soft lips of Tidus against hers. She closed her eyes, and an a finger across her slightly parted lips. Tonight was... paradise. Yuna felt her body grow heavy, and she turned off her light, sliding the blankets over herself. That night all she dreamed of was an eternal heaven... where she and Tidus had all the time in the world to themselves. Just him and her.

As Tidus woke the next morning, he sat up drowsily, his eyes looking at his alarm clock. Shit! It was 7:55! He had to leave in five minutes to be on time! He leaped out of bed, pulling on whatever he could find, then looked down, realizing awkwardly that he was wearing a sweater instead of pants. He grunted in frustration, then fell over from the effort of trying to stand on one foot and take of the sweater. But, being half asleep and incredibly drowsy, his normal sense of balance was of no use to him. As he grabbed his schoolbag and an apple from the kitchen table, he noticed that the house was abnormally quiet, and there were no signs of either his brother or father. He shrugged it off, and pulled on his jacket, running out the front door. At once he balked.

The entire front lawn was coated in a white sheet of snow! And there, playing his heart out, was his brother! Clad in his little blue snowsuit, Zidane was making a snow angel. Over near the snow-covered hedges was a large, man shaped mound of snow. Tidus smiled at his brother, and trotted to the lump, and kicked it. Immediately, the form jumped up, and he immediately recognized it to be his father. Still unashamedly drunk. The man coughed, and then fell over backwards into the snow again. Tidus just laughed, and went to the garage, pulling out his motorbike. Thank Yevon that the roads were still so warm that the snow was immediately gone, making it suitable to bike to school. He pulled on his helmet, and started up the ignition, pulling on the clutch, and finally, letting the gas go, and he sped off down the street, leaving his father coughing in the exhaust.

Stepping off the bus, Yuna cautiously stepped onto the pavement, her wool mittens gripping the bus' pole for support. At Rikku's suggestion, she had worn a cute pair of white fluffy earmuffs. How surprising it was to have such a change in weather! As Yuna walked down the sidewalk to her school's entrance, she saw a couple people she didn't know wave at her and smile. Confusedly, she waved back, gulping in nervousness. Just as she was about to reach the doors, she heard the roar of an engine, and as she turned. she saw a jet black motorcycle whip down the street, and as it zoomed past her, she knew that her knight in shining armor had just come to save her. She turned around excitedly, and ran helter-skelter towards the bike, a smile crossing her face. Regardless of the stares she was getting, she continued on. As she reached him, she saw him pull his helmet off, shaking his hair free. She giggled, and ran straight at him, and surprisingly, to herself, and to him, she tackled him right into a snow bank! Suddenly realizing herself, she sat up, bit her lip, and clasped her hands together. Tidus was on his stomach. He put his hands under himself, and pushed, spitting out a mouth full of snow as he went. He wiped off his face, shook his hair, and sat up, his eyes closed. Slowly, he opened them, and his jaw dropped.

"Yuna!" he said incredulously, his mouth opening and closing, trying to spit some words out. Yuna blushed, and covered her face with her hands.

"I-I'm sorry... I was just so happy to see you and all.. and I felt so excited... I just couldn't help it.. I'm so sorry-"

When she heard no answer from him, she peeked through two of her fingers at him, and saw that he was smiling. Not a smirk or sneer, just a genuine smile. She felt one of his hands clasp her shoulder, almost exactly the way he had done the night before, and she felt herself being pulled to him. Soon, she realized that her earmuffs were off... and the proof was his hot breath crawling over the skin of her ear, making her shiver.

"Don't be sorry... I love surprises.. and think.. it saved me the trouble of finding you!" Yuna giggled girlishly, and gasped as she felt his arms encircle her waist. Her hands flew from her face to his shoulders, and her blush deepened. She was so embarrassed, she couldn't even look him in the eye. He was just too cute!

"So.. does that mean I'm your... you know.. girlfriend?" she whispered, and she heard him chuckle. Her head spun to face his, and she could only see the laughter in his eyes.

"Certainly, Lady Yuna..and I shall be your knight, defending the lovely princess!"

Before Yuna could grasp what was happening, Tidus had lifted her off the snow bank, carrying her bridal style, twirled her around and set her on the ground. She blinked a couple of times in confusion, and giggled nervously. Just as she was about to say something, the obnoxious noise of the school's homeroom bell reached their ears. Tidus pressed a finger to her lips, and winked.

"I guess we'll have to talk later, now, won't we?" Yuna nodded, and watched him trot of to the main doors. Wow, he had really turned into some wonderful Romeo.. That certainly wasn't like him! She shrugged, and plucked up her bag from the snow, and she made her own way into the school, her thoughts only on her beloved.

"Yunie! Helloooo! Earth to Yunie! Anyone home?"

Yuna's head snapped to the direction of the voice, and found that Rikku and Paine were sitting across from her. Since when was she in the cafeteria? She must've been caught in another daydream. She'd had so many today! Ones of her wedding day (with a certain blonde blitzer), a lavish trip to the most romantic spots in Bevelle, what her children would look like, her dream house, and a fantastic honeymoon touring Besaid and Kilika. She groaned. Couldn't she just have two seconds of solitude in her imagination?

Rikku huffed in annoyance, and resorted to pouting. Paine smirked, and played with the straw in her milk carton. Yuna waved to them both to show that she was paying attention, and Rikku sat up straight, clearing her throat and popping a bubble in her gum.

"Anyhoo! I've received special covert orders about operation GDP2!"

"GDP2?" Yuna asked curiously, twirling a lock of her hair on her finger, dazing off again, on the verge of reaching the land of daydream.

"Well, Gippal told me about these real interesting instructions on how to humiliate Dona, and since we've already successfully completed step one, the spreading of the gossip, we now have to move on to the more important and influential steps. Now.. we're thinking of some sickly-sweet ways of getting back at Dona, and we want to send a silent message to Dona of what we want and how we're going to get it. Well, we're going to stuff some condoms and other assorted birth control devices, and hope she gets it clear of what we're trying to say. So, what do you think, Yunie? Yunie! WAKE UP, FOR YEVON'S SAKE!" Rikku pounded her fist down onto the table, making Yuna snap out of her delirium, and unfortunately making Paine's milk be knocked over.

"I'm awake, I'm awake!"

"Rikku! You spilled my milk all over me! Yevon! It's hurt time!" Paine snarled, standing up, the cream-white shoopuf milk dripping down her tank top. Rikku saw the fire and ferocity in Paine's eyes, and eeped, jumping up and running as fast as she could away from Paine, the image of Paine's fiery eyes and clenched fists burning holes in her mind.

Paine snorted, picked up a napkin, and turned to Yuna.

"Well, that's certainly gotten rid of her, hasn't it?" Paine said heatedly, wiping furiously at her top, then grunted in defeat. She pulled out her bag, and slipped off her top from over her shoulders, and Yuna could've sworn half the male population of the cafeteria's heads had turned automatically when Paine stripped waist-up down to her bra. She dug into her bag, and got out a sweater, pulling it over her head. When she saw a couple of guys stare in her direct, she raised, and fist, and muttered 'hurt time'. In an instant, they were gone.

"Hey, Yuna.." she heard Paine mumble, Yuna looked over at Paine, who was now staring out the window, onto the school grounds outside. Outside, she saw a familiar group of guys sitting under a tree, and she could see Paine's attention being drawn to Baralai, who was laughing and nodding at Gippal. They were probably in the middle of a joke. And... knowing Gippal, it was probably dirty as hell. Yuna internally snorted. When she flicked her eyes over to Tidus, she smiled. Tidus was sitting with a couple of the lesser known members of the group, Isaaru, Maroda. Wakka was sleeping nearby, even though the temperature was almost freezing. The three seemed locked in a serious debate, and then when he saw Tidus' face crack up from seriousness to hilarity, her feeling of curiosity rose, wondering what they were talking about.

"Yuna... in short.. I'm happy for I've found someone who really likes you, and I hope you like him back. But... in a way.." Paine hesitated, "I'm jealous. Ever since you've come in contact with him, you've really become more happy. I just wish that.. I could have something that the two of you share.." Yuna pulled her attention from the boys to Paine, who sat across with a look of sadness unhidden on her face. Yuna smiled empathetically, and took Paine's hand.

"Well.. we're not really going anywhere with our relationship so far... but that's not the point. You'll find someone, and you'll have a great time together." Yuna was trying her best to be as encouraging as she could, but the words sounded awkward and stupid in her mouth.

"What if I've already found someone?" Paine whispered, looking at her feet in embarrassment. Yuna beamed, and squeezed Paine's hand.

"Then go get 'em, tiger!" Paine chuckled, and Yuna giggled. Soon, they were laughing. Yuna grinned at Paine, and Paine smiled.

"Well, I guess I'll just have to say thanks and wait for the best. Well, I hope that everything goes well between you and lover boy." Yuna saw the wink Paine gave her, and Yuna couldn't help but feel grateful that she had someone so great like Paine at her side.

"Thanks, Paine."

Later that day, after everyone had gone home, Rikku hid from behind a locker. In her hand was a camera, and her eyes were focused on Dona. Dona walked unusually alone (without her gaggle of airheads) down the hall, her heels clicking on the tile. When Dona finally reached her locker, Rikku clasped her hands together and mumbled a prayer to God knows who. She stared intensely at Dona's hands working the dial, and when she heard the click of the lock releasing, she giggle excitedly. When Dona wrenched the locker open, she screamed as she was covering by a storm of raining contraceptives. Rikku grinned, and saw the blitzball team (Tidus included) stride in from the blitz pool, and they all simultaneously fell over laughing at the sight of Dona buried in a heap of birth control.

Tidus' eyes flashed to Rikku's, and he gave her a thumbs up. Rikku dashed to the center of the hall and shot Polaroid after Polaroid of different angles of Dona. Rikku's mind spun with excitement, and Tidus ran off to the side to join her, and they watched the blitz team help rescue Dona from the pile, trying their hardest not to laugh.

"Well, Rikku! Excellent!" Tidus chuckled, wiping the tears of merriment from the corners of his eyes. Rikku beamed, and they turned around, heading for the student parking lot.

"So, should I give you a ride?"

"Sure! I think Yunie's home from the library now, so you could always drop in for a visit!"

"Sounds great, I can't wait!"

"Hold on there, cowboy. Will you promise to never hurt her? Cuz if you do... I promise... I'll do my best to make your life a living hell!" When Tidus looked over at Rikku to see if she was joking, he saw from the look on her face that she was not. He gulped, and nodded.

Well, easier said than done anyways.

**((Well, chapter done! What did you think? Was it okay? Well, sit tight for the next chapter! It might be coming sooner than you think! Oh, yeah, would anybody like a lime/tame lemon in this fic? I'll keep a tally for it. Well, that's all for now, folks!**

**Lotsa love and ciao to all,**

**-Chiishi)) **


	12. Chapter 12: Change of Plans

**((Okay, to start things off, I am so incredibly sorry for not updating in such a long time, life finally caught up with me in all its business, and I had to take some time to consider where my three unfinished fics were going. So, here's a chapter for all of you that have stuck with me, and those who have only joined the following of this fic recently. I have a plan as to where this story is going, so please, bear with me.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the entities of Square corporation, nor will I ever.**

**On with the story!))**

Chapter 12: Change of Plan

As the clouds swirled overhead, the sun tried its hardest to break through the gray cloud cover, only to fail miserably. Snow up to a person's knees lay heavily upon once-green grass, Luca's heaviest record snowfall in a long, long while. The city's bay's waters were gray and gloomy, a high contrast to the once dazzling crystal waters the city hosted.

_Beep! Beep! Beep!_

A sleep-tousled figure moaned and murmured under her covers, a hand jutting out of the mountain of blankets atop the bed, lazily swatting at the area around the alarm clock, finally sighing with release as the irritating tone of the alarm clock was silenced.

A soft blanket of light streamed forth from in between the blinds, casting the blue-turquoise walled room in a tangible glow, beating away at the shadows that only dared to creep into the room's corners. One brilliant chartreuse eye opened, and then so did the other, its counterpart, an orb of sapphire blue. Yuna sat up slowly in her bed, slowly rubbing the sleep from her eyes, yawning loudly as she scratched her head, letting her body do the waking up for her. As she sat in the silence, she strained her ears for just a little bit of sound to tell her someone was up like she was; but instead, she was greeted with a stony silence, finally ruined by the high-pitched barking of a lupine in someone's backyard not too far away. Rising slowly, she cursed as the warmth was sapped from her body, leaving her feet chilled and her bare arms tingling. Padding over to the calendar over her dresser, a lazy finger traced across the glossy surface, finally finding its mark upon the day it was, Tuesday the 20th. 5 days to Christmas.

_Although, I know, the world of real emotion has surrounded me…_

Yuna's head darted from the calendar to track the noise, and she grinned as she saw her cell phone shouting at her from her bedside table. Rushing over to it, she flipped the lid open and took a deep breath, trying hard not to smile. She knew who it was.

"Hello?" She asked softly, cupping her other hand under the phone and the hand holding it, flopping down onto her bed once more.

"_Hey, lovely. Just calling to say good morning, you know,"_ replied a rather cheeky voice on the other end, and without a doubt, she could feel him smiling on the other side of the line too.

"How are you? Hope you didn't get in too late last night, it was great, thanks so much!" Yuna beamed, grinning harder as she recounted the events of the night before. What had supposed to be a normal moonlit dinner in a small and quite restaurant had turned into a huge snowball fight in the snow in the nearest park they could find, followed by a casual round of skating at the local arena. By the time Yuna had been dropped off, there was no doubt she had stayed out long past curfew, and she was soaked down to the bone from a tussle in the snow bank outside her house before she got in. Guess whose fault that was!

"_Nah, I got in all right, didn't have to do too much now that Zidane's went over to my Mom's for the holidays. Didn't get shit from Dad either, so it made the evening all the more perfect. I'm good. But hell, I'm exhausted!"_ he laughed softly and cursed under his breath, sighing. _"Damn, sorry, I gotta go. There's something Wakka wanted to pick up for this weekend, and he wants me to pick him up in ten minutes. Listen, I'll see you at school, okay?" _Tidus tried his best at a reassuring voice, but his disappointment over not being able to talk longer held the higher position.

"Yeah, I'll see you later. Bye, hun."

"_Bye."_

She snapped the cell lid shut, and set it down, rushing over to choose a suitable outfit for the day. Over the past month and a half, there was nothing that could pry our couple apart. They were hardly out of each other's sight as it is, and not even Dona could spoil their happiness. Now swollen with water gain and with a nearly three-month old baby in her, she had left the group pretty much alone, miserable by her lonesome, with only Leblanc as her sole companion. The rest of her gaggle of goons had left shortly after Halloween, loosing interest in their queen bee after hearing about her unplanned pregnancy and what Dona had said about almost all of them. Once one packed up and left, the rest followed. Tired of the verbal abuse and the lack of self-esteem, they felt it was finally time to leave their queen bitch behind.

Once she had decided on wearing a decent pair of jeans and a tight-fitting two shirt combo(a tank top under and an off-the shoulder top), she pulled on a pair of warm fuzzy socks and grabbed her backpack, pocketing some money from a jar on the kitchen counter, she pulled on her jacket and headed out the door.

"I can't believe it," a voice muttered, making Yuna stop in her tracks whoever it was, it was around the front of the house, and the voice sounded eerily familiar in its anger. She softly tip-toed to peek around the corner of the house, and she took care not to give her presence away.

There stood Rikku and Gippal, standing facing each other, Rikku's eyes cast downward as Gippal gazed at her. Rikku was wringing her hands in anxiety, and she trembled in what could be the cold, or just plain fear.

"Tell me it's not true, Rikku… that guy… I never knew… never noticed… What are you going to do?" Gippal pleaded, softly grabbing her chin, pushing her head up so their eyes could meet. Rikku shrugged, and finally, Yuna could see Rikku's eyes were awash with tears, soft beads of sorrow running salty trails down her cheeks.

"He knows you're taken… and yet, why would he dare do this to you? That asshole, I oughta beat the living shit out of him for what he did!" Gippal half-shouted, making a few birds flee from their nests in the surrounding trees. Rikku shook her head violently, opening her mouth, a strangled sob escaping her lips as she tried to find her words.

"N-no… Gippal, he didn't mean to freak me out… and his intentions are good… b-but… they're just not in the right place, you know?" Rikku softly muttered, roughly shoving her tears away, rubbing at her cheeks. Gippal shook his head and sighed, taking her head in his hands, giving her a look of pure sorrow.

"But, Rikku… He kissed you. That usually only means one thing… You can't stick up for him, especially when he expects you to give me up without a thought, and run off with him!" Gippal was angry again, his words echoing the chaos brewing behind his eyes, flinging his hands down by his sides, his hands clenching and unclenching in his gloves. Rikku sighed, her tears gone, and she looked Gippal full on in the eye, biting her lip.

"Just… let me talk to him, I gotta tell him about what I want, and what Paine wants. She can't know this, this has gotta get under the bridge as soon as it can, I can't bear look at my best friend and know her crush wants me instead, I just can't." Her voice was full with grim determination, and she nodded solemnly, as though she had finally decided what she meant to do.

"I guess we'll have to give this a chance, then. If he tries anything again, you gotta tell me. Then I'll beat the shit out of him." He chuckled huskily and smiled, drawing Rikku into a hug. Rikku embraced him fiercely back, laughing softly into his chest, then letting go of him, going up onto her tiptoes to peck him on the mouth, taking his hand.

"I hope we didn't wake Yunie up, she woulda been devastated if she had heard all of this… it's tough for her to deal with her own problems and everyone else's at once… She'd want to fix everything and make things right… you gotta admire her for being so selfless… but! Anyhow! Let's get to school; I gotta finish something before homeroom bell rings… okay?" Gippal nodded and tugged her along behind him, opening his car door for her, shut it, got in himself, and started the ignition. Within a minute, the car was whirring down along the street, sending a spray of brown slush onto the sidewalk behind it.

Yuna had stayed stock still as she watched her cousin and her main squeeze talk, and she enveloped herself in a hug, a coldness not invoked by the temperature biting at her bones. Who… who had they been talking about? If the both of them had known this guy well, Yuna would've known him too. And somehow, Paine was caught up in this. What was going on?

The bus ride to school had provided her no answers, and instead, a larger sense of dread and confusion left her shivering in her shoes as she walked up the slick sidewalk to the school's main entrance, pulling her hat off as she entered. Student chatter hit her ears immediately as she spotted a large group of students group around a large table topped with two twin canisters of coffee and creamy hot chocolate been sold by students for some fundraiser or another. She didn't feel especially different then she had at the beginning of the year, she again housed this soul-chilling sense of dread as she walked face-down to her locker, prying the lock open once she twirled the lock's combination with ease. She pulled off her coat and gloves in a fluid movement, stuffing them into the locker and pulling out a book or two, then bending down to stuff them into her bag. Once she was done, she slammed the locker door shut and replaced the lock back into its place, and as she looked up, she noticed a familiar figure beside her, then the soothing touch of soft tanned skin on her bare arm.

"Yuna." The very sound of her name from those lips sent a thousand shivers of warmth down her body. She slowly turned to look up into that face, and at once, she could feel the tension leave her shoulders as her eyes met his, wrapped in a reassuring blanket of happiness. He grinned at her and pulled her into a hug, lightly kissing the top of her head as she smiled into his chest, and she sighed contentedly.

"Hey."

"What's with you?" he asked softly, pulling away, his eyes searching hers, "You seem kinda off… when I called earlier, you seemed so cheerful.. now I have the feeling that something's up." He smiled a small, anxious smile, cocking his head to the side, waiting for some sort of answer.

She shook her head and broke away from his gaze, studying the laces of her boots. "It's nothing, really, just finally feeling the exhaustion from a rather tiring night.. nothing too big." She faked a smile, giving his hand a brief squeeze in reassurance. His eyes narrowed, the smile slipping from his features, looking away. What was she hiding? Internally he shrugged, letting the matter fall, at least for a little while. She would tell him if something was really up, wouldn't she? He really hoped so. He looked back to her, the smile glued back in place, and he started walking, pulling Yuna along with him.

"Come on, we've got a third portion of revenge to plan!"

Everyone was back in the library, sitting in an isolated corner, chatting quietly, and as the two approached, the chatter ceased, and everyone greeted the duo with vigor, inviting them to sit where there was room. Tidus took the nearest chair, Yuna sitting on the arm. She glanced at her cousin with silent examination, her eyes probing for some sign of distress from the morning's incident. She was rewarded with nothing, just a soft glow of happiness. It had to be a mask, no one could ever be so collected, especially after something so drastic happening.

Lulu stood, acting as the group's chairman.

"Good job everyone, to our pleasure, step one and two have been a success. Now, all we need now is a third step, something to upstage and one-up the last prank. Anyone have any ideas as to how we'll do this?"

"Dump glue on her and cover her in pink feathers so she can truly be a pink chocobo?" Gippal suggested, his eyebrows hitched up in deviance, a huge smirk gracing his features. Lulu reached over and swatted him with the magazine she had rolled up during her opening comment.

"You can't be serious, that's as juvenile as it gets! Of course… our last two steps have been incredibly juvenile themselves… but at least we were operating on a junior-high level of immaturity… Any other ideas?" She retorted, heaving a heavy sigh. The group sat in silence, no ideas really coming to mind. Finally, a meek voice broke the silence.

"We've ruined her clique, we've ruined her reputation… what else can we do but tell the world about her situation?" All eyes were on Yuna, and she shifted uncomfortably under their gaze, pretending to closely examine the dirt under her nails, or lack thereof.

"What do you mean, Yuna?" Paine asked softly, leaning forward, her arms crossed over her legs. Yuna licked her lips, summoning up both the courage and the right words to explain her idea.

"Well… first off… what motivation does she have to keep coming to school every day? It can't be her grades- we've heard enough gossip to know her educational career is hanging on my a thin thread… she has just one friend, and the only impression people have of her nowadays is that she's a slut… They say she would get on any guy that has working… erm…"

"Parts." Lulu supplied her, flashing a brief smile, urging Yuna to continue. She nodded, clasping her hands together, her eyes flashing across the faces of her friends.

"Yes. R-right. Anyhow, in retrospect, our plan is essentially complete, providing the fact that she has really nothing left but her family. They must have no idea about her pregnancy, and if I'm thinking correctly, we should at least give some hints as to what's really going on in her life."

"You mean rat her out to her folks, and then when they flip shit, she'll be removed from school and transferred, right?" Rikku questioned, sitting up, Gippal's arms securely around her waist. Yuna shook her head, biting her lip.

"Not exactly. I know it might seem inappropriate now, but I've been thinking a lot about what we're doing and how it's affecting her, and I realized something. Our cause was to humiliate Donna after she cheated on Tidus, but we've done that. We've gone beyond that, we've essentially ruined her." Yuna paused, sighing deeply as her gaze dropped to her lap. "What I wanna do now is chase away this nagging pull at my conscience. I wanna help her now, guys, not destroy her…"

The silence that enveloped their corner was profound. Everyone exchanged guilty glances, looking back at Yuna. All the while, Tidus had been watching her, his gaze softening as he watched her composure break.

"What do you suppose we do?" Gippal asked, breaking the heavy silence, asking the question each mind was eager to say themselves. Yuna straightened, giving her friends her full attention once again.

"We gotta be covert, but we need to let administration know what's going on, and send an anonymous note to her parents, and let everything else happen naturally. She can't stay in school for much longer, and we need to keep this private. If she's thinking correctly, she'll transfer and start over in another school. She'd be crazy to stay, have her kid, and expect a welcome return when she's able to attend again," She quipped, pursing her lips, "also, no one deserves to be bullied like I was by her, and I can't go on knowing I'm retaliating in the same manner that she tormented me by. It's not right."

All around their small oval, every head nodded.

Finally, Christmas arrived. In every front window a glittering Macalanian tree could be seen, draped in all sorts of baubles and tinsel, lights not needed since the trees themselves emanated a soft, warm and ultimately intimate light. That is, all windows but those of Yuna's house. Since, of course, her relatives were Al Bhed, they instead celebrated Christmas by sitting in front of the idiot box, cracking open a couple of drinks and watching all the movies they owned, their own holiday, Nalukhedeuh Tyo (literally 'Recognition Day'), when the Al Bhed, long long ago, were finally allowed to live among other Spirans in peace. That took place later on in the year, at almost Midsummer. Until then, they observed Spiran holidays with apathy, drinking to their heart's content.

Over at Tidus' house, there was a small tree, decorated by Tidus, and to his delight, learned his father would be off on a drinking jaunt with a couple of buddies, leaving Tidus the house and a wad of cash (Tidus' Christmas gift) all to himself.

As Tidus finally opened his eyes, he closed them shut again, cursing softly at the almost violent amount of light streaming through his window. He dragged himself up and out of bed, shuffling over to his bathroom, wincing as his morning visitor brushed against the rough cotton of his pajama pants. He grabbed his phone off of his dresser, checked the time, his mouth agape as he saw it was nearing noon. Yuna would be here in half an hour, crap!

In a hurry, he kicked off his pajama pants and practically ran into the shower, yelling in surprise as a torrent of cold water rushed over him.

Things were starting off pretty well, don't you think?

Yuna approached his door, clad in a pair of fuzzy boots and a skirt that brushed her knees, bundled up in a goose-down coat, the gift her uncle Cid had given her for his half-assed attempt at a Christmas gift. She knocked twice, turning around to take in the beautiful view that assaulted her senses, seeing Luca's levels of the city, the harbor a grayish-blue, gulls crying cheerfully in the nippy air.

The door opened behind her and she smiled, turning around to greet her beau. Instead, she was greeted by an empty doorway, which was slowly closing, her boyfriend nowhere to be seen. She stepped inside, looking around cautiously, smoothing her hair down.

"Tidus?" She yelled, her eyes frantically searching the foyer of his home, closing the door behind her. She heard a shuffling from the floor above, and she was rewarded by the throaty chuckle of her boy as he descended the stairs, running a hand through his still slightly damp hair, enveloping her in a tight embrace, pecking her lips softly, and immediately taking hold of her hand. He led her into the sunken living room, beckoning her to sit on an oversized sofa near the tree. She complied and set his gift on her lap, licking her lips in silent anticipation as he rummaged around the tree, brushing aside gifts that were addressed to his brother and himself, all from assorted relatives and family friends.

"Any luck?" she playfully teased, poking him slyly with a toe, earning only a soft laugh in response.

"Gimme a second, I set it aside, and now I just can't seem to find it… wait… Ah! Here it is," he stood, turning around to grin at her, a faint blush settling on his cheeks as she gazed at the object in his hands. He had every reason to blush, what sat in his outstretched hands was a clumsily wrapped box, adorned with a little snowman tag with her name on it. A twitter escaped her smiling lips and she bit her lip, trying almost too hard to keep in a full scale laugh.

"Uh…" he muttered, looking a tad embarrassed, "it took me a while to find something that would suit you, you're a tough person to shop for, believe it or not!" He smiled and pushed the bundle into her hand, and she wasted no time in tearing off the red and green wrapping. She took a quick look at the box that sat in her hands, and ever-so-tentatively, cracked open the box, the hinges creaking softly. Inside sat a small ring, a band of pink gold, adorned all around the outside with small diamonds and a few large rubies. She gasped as she gently plucked the ring out of its velvet setting, marveling as she turned the ring one way and another, the light making the ring come alive with sparkles of color and light. She placed it gingerly on her right ring finger, barely able to contain her joy. It was too beautiful of a token for her; all she needed in life was a gift card to some store, and she would be perfectly happy. Instead, Tidus went out of his way to buy her something so delicate and elegant, and at that very moment, she felt tears stinging at her eyes, and without restraint, she let them fall.

Tidus watched her with adoration, his heart swelling in pride as he watched her face break out into an expression of uncontainable joy. He grinned as she ogled the ring, biting his lip in barely withheld satisfaction. As the tears rolled down her cheeks, however, a pang of confusion hit him.

"Something wrong?" he whispered, taking her hand in his, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles, using his other hand to angle her chin upwards to meet his eyes. She immediately shook her head and closed her eyes, a little emotion-filled laugh escaping her lips.

"No… everything's perfect. I've never… I've never received something so beautiful and with so much meaning… I'm not sure you understand of how much this means to me…" She used her free hands to wipe away her tears and she broke their gaze, looking away as she laughed again. "Now I feel like my gift just can't compare… your gift just outshone any importance my gift could have…"

"Don't be ridiculous! You know I'd love anything you'd give me, even if it was a shoelace, you silly woman!" he joked, cupping her face in her hands, ducking in to give her a lingering, desire-filled and longing kiss. Her sobs ceased, and she brought up her hands to mimic his, deepening the kiss. After a long minute of feasting at each other's lips, she tentatively held out his gift, a rather large and intricately wrapped box. He removed it quickly from her hands, ripping off the decorative paper, and broke the tape holding the box shut with his fingernail. He groped around in the box, his eyes widening as he got a grip of the object inside, pulling it gently out.

It was a standard blitzball, but there was nothing standard about it. All over the blue-and-white ball were signatures in black sharpie, and Tidus turned the ball over this way and that, staring open-mouthed at the names scribbled all over.

"This can't be what I think it is," he said softly, gazing with wonder at Yuna, and she grinned, nodding hastily.

"Signed official ball of the Zanarkand Abes, I know you really like them!" She giggled as he pulled her to him, embracing her fiercely, placing a dozen kisses all along her neck as she giggled from the ticklish sensations. When he broke away, he just sat next to her in mute euphoria.

"How… how did you get this?" he asked her softly, earning a trademark smile from her. She winked roguishly, her eyes sparkling.

"I just happen to know one of the players through Uncle Cid, he used to coach him before he made it big and transferred to Zanarkand!"

"You're amazing," he whispered heatedly, gathering her in his arms and kissing her with gusto. As the kiss deepened and she lay down on the couch and he crawled on top of her, the ball rolled off of the couch and bounced onto the ground, long forgotten.

**((Judging from the response in the myriad of reviews, I'll be doing a tame lime. I'm keeping it to a T-rating, and it'll stay that way. Anyhow, I'm hoping to keep going with updating everything, just be patient with me! Please and thank you!**

**Ciao for now,**

**~Chiishi))**


End file.
